National Blood Bike Awareness Day – Friday 14^th August 2020

A volunteer Blood Biker from Haxby has been given a Service Award in recognition of his support for the, “Free to the NHS”, urgent transportation service, during the height of the pandemic outbreak.

Advanced-Qualified motorcyclist, John Coe, has spent countless hours voluntarily transporting blood samples and medication from Hospices and Hospitals in and around the York area.

John volunteers with Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes, an independent Blood Bike Charity.

Whiteknights’ North Yorkshire Manager, David Dickinson speaking on National Blood Bike Awareness Day – 14^th August said:

“During the height of the pandemic outbreak, Whiteknights became a 24/7 voluntary service in addition to the usual, “Out of Hours” transportation service we provide to the NHS free of Charge overnight and at weekends.

“During this time, not only did John provide countless hours of service, I felt he went above and beyond, by stepping in and supporting other volunteers who were also on operational duties for Whiteknights. John also helped with other areas of the service like taking motorcycles for vital maintenance during lockdown. I wanted to recognize his commitment and enthusiasm – especially as the theme of National Blood Bike Day this year is, “Rising to the Challenge,” something which John has embodied.”

Pictured receiving his award, John said: “I’m speechless and taken by surprise to receive such an award. During the pandemic, being part of a voluntary Blood Bike team has been very rewarding – we had a job to do for North Yorkshire Patients and I feel very proud to in some way have helped the NHS during this challenging time.”

National Blood Bike Awareness Day – Friday 14^th August 2020

Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes are delighted to announce that Elland-based specialist vehicle firm, Terberg DTS UK, have announced they will be “fueling the fleet of blood bikes” we operate as a voluntary Blood Bike Charity.

In recognition of the outstanding contribution to patient care in Yorkshire for moving Blood Samples, medications and donated breast milk, Terberg DTS UK have issued each motorcycle with a fuel card to pay the Whiteknights’ petrol costs. This is a major financial initiative – the first of its kind for the Yorkshire Blood Bike Charity.

It coincides with National Blood Bike awareness day on 14^th August which for the year of the 2020 pandemic has the theme of “Rising To The Challenge”.

To respond to the Covid19 outbreak, Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes is now offering a 24/7 service in addition to the Out of Hours Urgent voluntary transportation service it provides for the NHS and Hospices in Yorkshire.

Head of Fleet Rental, for Terberg DTS UK, Robin Johnson said: “The volunteer work the Whiteknights Motorcyclists fulfill each night to benefit the NHS in Yorkshire is really inspiring, they do a brilliant job and we’re thrilled to be able to support them in this new way.”

The Chairman of Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes, Andrew Foster commented: “All our volunteers have made a tremendous contribution to support NHS services during the pandemic. We hugely appreciate Terberg DTS UK recognising this and being so willing to cover our fuel costs to keep our charitable service going when our routine fundraising events have been cancelled.”

Pictured at the launch of “Fueling the Fleet” and the presentation of the first fuel card is Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes, West Yorkshire Manager, Andy Dickens alongside Robin Johnson from Terberg DTS UK.

Terberg DTS UK originally sponsored an operational Blood Bike motorcycle for Whiteknights  back in 2018. In light of the importance of the work the bike was achieving, Terberg DTS UK have decided to further their support of Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes.

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!

Here’s the link to our JustGiving Page:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/whiteknight-comms

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/whiteknight-comms

Would you consider buying a Blood Biker a ‘Virtual Beer’ – to say “Thank You”.

Click on the link to the Whiteknights website and click on, ‘Make a Donation’.

www.whiteknights.org.uk

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… 

From everyone at Whiteknights….

Thank you.

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.”

If you would like to financially support our service please donate through the following link:
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/donation-web/charity?charityId=1001088&stop_mobi=yes

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.