Well we’re into the final week before Sheffield’s very own hairy biker gets a shearing this Saturday 1st August.
Watch out for a video update and hopefully a Facebook live video as South Yorkshire Deputy Manager, Chris Taylor goes under the scissors for the shaving of a lifetime to raise funds for Whiteknights.
Remember he’s going for the full beard, hair and eye brow removal! And its all in aid of a great charity – Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood BIkes. Please share and prompt your friends to donate to support the pandemic work we are doing at this time. See you soon!
Volunteers Week 2020 Appeal Video from Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes.
It’s a great opportunity to tell the story of how WE, have supported NHS frontline services, and for YOU to have the opportunity to actually support us.
Since the 23 of March, we’ve responded to more than 450 urgent call-outs to help hospitals and hospices across Yorkshire.
During the Coronavirus
outbreak we responded by becoming a 24/7 service.
We continue to move
Blood sample specimens for urgent testing between hospitals Out-of-hours; but
we have evolved and adapted to new ways of working to minimise the risk of
infection to patients. Now on a daily basis we collect routine phlebotomy
testing, from temporary drive-through testing sites.
We’re taking laptop
computers to on-call Doctors working remotely.
We’re moving medical
records and resources.
We’re delivering
controlled drugs and pharmacy items for shielding palliative care patients as
part of the Hospice At Home initiative.
Whilst still joining
other blood bike groups by participating in urgent and emergency national
relays and we continue to
transport donated breast milk to neonatal special care baby units.
Never before have we
seen the potential for our healthcare systems to be under so much pressure.
But whilst we have
gone from strength to strength in meeting the requests for our help from the
clinical staff – its in fundraising where we now need your urgent contribution.
Like many charities,
without our public appearances, our routine fundraising has been restricted .No,
biker gatherings, no public events, no sporting sponsorship – at a time when
we’ve never been busier – financially, things have never been bleaker….
Do you believe in the:
“free of charge to the NHS”, work that we do?
If we didn’t do it –
the NHS would have to pay for commercial private hire and courier costs.
We now really need
your financial support…
Why not get behind Whiteknights, show your support for the new service our volunteers are providing, by riding through the night and now during the day.
So how about this? –
to celebrate our volunteers, would you consider buying a Blood Biker a ‘Virtual
Beer’ to recognise their contribution to patient care the fight against
COVID-19 and to say thank you.
Please, right now, use
the links and go to www.whiteknights.org.uk and click on ‘Make a Donation’.
Please give whatever
you can, to show your support – please give generously and stand with us as we
face this outbreak together…
Whiteknights Yorkshire
Blood Bikes have this weekend agreed to continue to support a pioneering
“Drive-through Phlebotomy Service” with their day-time volunteer motorcyclists
in Sheffield.
In response to the
Coronavirus Pandemic, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust opened
a “drive-through” facility at the DSA Arena in Sheffield to support patients by
taking routine blood test specimens from within their cars.
Whiteknights Yorkshire
Blood Bikes Advanced-Qualified riders then transport the blood samples to
Laboratory Medicine at the Northern General Hospital.
Whiteknights South Yorkshire Regional Manager, Roy Clark said: “In addition to our Out-of-hours overnight service, our volunteer riders have really enjoyed responding to the need to support patients in Sheffield in this way. The new Phlebotomy facility was launched very quickly after lock-down began in March and we were delighted to be able to assist the Trust by transporting the blood samples by Blood Bike and without cost to the NHS. Almost every day over 300 patients attend the site and we are called upon to make several trips a day to convey the specimens to the hospital. We can announce we will continue to do this until September.”
Richard Wardle, of STH
NHS Foundation Trust has thanked Whiteknights: “Your help has been invaluable
and our service would not have been the success without your volunteers on the
team. We have had numerous positive comments from clinicians about rapid
turnaround times for test results – and this is greatly down to your riders
getting the samples to the labs rapidly and safely.
“At present more than
1500 patients a week are using the Drive-Through at the Arena which has been
instrumental in keeping patients safe and away from hospital facilities
reducing the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Thank you for your continued
help Whiteknights.”
Pictured at the temporary
test site are Whiteknights Volunteers, Tony Carter and South Yorkshire Regional
Manager. Roy Clark.
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes would like to thank BP Fuels for extending their provision of fuel to Emergency Service vehicles for another month.
Whiteknights have responded to the Coronavirus Pandemic by extending our operational hours to provide a 24/7 Service. We have been busy responding to requests by Hospital Pharmacies for deliveries to patients, transferring urgent medial records and have been collecting over 300 Blood Samples daily from temporary Phlebotomy Testing sites to support routine blood testing for patients.
Pictured in the image are the handovers between our riders as we have also participated in national relays. Thank you to BP for providing the fuel to support this vital national service.
Since the country went into lock down on 23rd March 2020, Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes have responded to over 200 call-outs to urgently transfer Blood and Pathology samples between Hospitals in Yorkshire. In response to the Coronavirus Pandemic we have now become a 24/7 day-time and night-time service to meet the evolving logistical needs of Hospitals in the region as they modify their clinical services to combat the virus. For the benefit of the independent Hospice network we have been collecting and delivering essential medications and controlled drugs to the homes of Shielded Palliative Care Patients. We were delighted to receive this message from Macmillan Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nina Blake-James – Seen here in PPE alongside Dave. “Please can you pass on my thanks to David Dickinson (Whiteknights North Yorkshire) for his help delivering essential medication to a palliative patient at home for the Hospice At Home Team. He was so patient and kind as he had to wait for me to get the prescription to the hospital pharmacy first after some confusion about where the prescription was. “We are under a lot of pressure currently and have been advised that we as Registered Nurses are not insured to carry patient medications. “This family had no form of transport to collect the prescription. Your service enabled the patient to get his essential medications required to relieve his symptoms. David is an incredible chap and deserves recognition along with your charity for a “gold standard” service. Thank you to Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes.”
Whiteknights would like to thank the large numbers of people contacting us to offer their services as volunteers at this time.
As we continue to support patients and NHS services at the current mandated requirements of our official NHS Service Level agreements, at present we have no plans to review the entry requirements and qualifications required for operational duties by volunteers for Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes.
Volunteers require Advanced Riding/Driving Qualifications and suitable induction training which we appreciate may be challenging to achieve at this time.
The safety and wellbeing of our volunteers is of paramount importance to us and we continue to appraise the “risk versus requirement” to maintain the free Out-of-hours service we offer to the NHS clinical services we support.
Thank you once again for contacting Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes – it only goes to show how supportive the British Public can be at times such as these.
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes have received a potentially life-saving addition to the personal protection equipment of their volunteer riders.
Each Blood Bike motorcycle in the Whiteknights fleet now comes with a safety airbag vest that inflates in milliseconds should the rider be involved in a collision.
The manufacturers claim the airbag vest has already been proven to greatly reduce the likelihood of serious injury. The inflated vest expands to protect the neck, shoulders, spine and chest.
At a recent presentation of the airbag vests, Whiteknights Chairman, Andrew Foster, said: “We hugely appreciate the donation of £5000 through Kirklees Lodge 4710, from the West Riding Masonic Charities to provide these airbag vests.
“They are a significant step forward in the protection equipment worn by our volunteer motorcycle riders who urgently transfer Blood Samples and vital supplies between hospitals free of charge.”
In South Yorkshire, the vests were presented to South Yorkshire Regional Managers Chris Taylor and Roy Clark by Russell Pettet and Steven Broadbent of Kirklees Masonic Lodge, at the Northern General Hospital.
The
Riders of the Lands End to John O’Groats cycle-athon at Applegreen
Services, Darrington have completed their challenge today. Whiteknights
Yorkshire Blood Bikes would like to say a huge thank you to everyone
involved at Applegreen for raising an incredible £3500!!
This is a wonderful result and we are extremely grateful to receive this funding during our busy winter season.
Pictured is Site Manager Megan Major with the Applegreen Senior
Operations Team. Nadine, Megan, Neil, Mark, Lucy, Alex, Matthew, Mandy
and Joe.
Today
during Storm Ciara Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes has responded to 11
call-outs across Yorkshire.
We
are particularly grateful to Sandal BMW Huddersfield, for supplying our new
electric vehicle Sparks2. Having this vehicle has been of immense benefit to
our volunteers to maintain our operational service to Hospitals and Hospices in
the region during such extreme adverse weather conditions.
Pictured
is General Sales Manager, James Whitefield of Sandal BMW presenting the keys to
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes Fleet Manager, Maurice Greenwood.
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes have this week received a major financial boost to support the charity over their forthcoming busy winter season.
Girder Fork Classic Motorcycle club have donated £1500 raised through their annual ‘Big Bike Sunday’ Classic motorcycle event held at Skipton Auction Mart.
Pictured receiving the donation are Whiteknights Fleet Manager, Steve Annakin, Blake Hemmingway from GFMCC, Whiteknights West Yorkshire Manager, Andy Dickens, and Whiteknights North Yorkshire Manager, Paranjit Bharaj.
Whiteknights volunteer, Advanced-Qualified riders transport urgent blood samples for testing between hospitals overnight and at weekends right across the Yorkshire region.
