Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service (EVS) is a

blood bike A blood bike is a specialist motorcycle modified for use as a courier vehicle for the prompt transportation of urgent and emergency medical items; primarily including blood, and also including X-rays, tissue samples, surgical tools, human milk ...

charity based in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

. Founded in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

in 1990, it is funded by public donations and staffed by unpaid volunteers.

Association with other blood bike charities

Freewheelers EVS are a founding member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB), which acts as an umbrella charity for all blood bike charities. It inspired the foundation of a new charity, White Knights EVS in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. Neighbouring charities include Severn Freewheelers, SERV, and Yeovil Freewheelers, which was founded in 1978.

Operations

The charity operates in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Bath and North East Somerset Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. ...

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

and western parts of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. It is used by

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

in the area, including major hospitals such as

Bristol Royal Infirmary The Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) is a large teaching hospital in the centre of Bristol, England. It has links with the nearby University of Bristol and the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England, also in Brist ...

Southmead Southmead is a northern suburb and wards of the United Kingdom, council ward of Bristol, in the south west of England, bordered by Filton in South Gloucestershire and Monks Park, Horfield, Henleaze and Westbury on Trym. It is the location of on ...

, Weston General, the RUH in Bath, and Musgrove Park in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

. Minor injuries units, GP surgeries, care homes,

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

s and patients' home addresses make up the other destinations often visited.

Coordinator and riders

Freewheelers operates from 19:00 to 07:00 during the week and 24 hours at weekends and public holidays. On any given shift there is one coordinator and five riders on duty. The riders are spread across the area of operation. In general one is in the vicinity of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, one in the vicinity of Bristol and one in the vicinity of Taunton. The fourth rider can be used anywhere across the whole area to assist when particularly busy or if one of the riders is in need of a break. A fifth rider exchanges transfusion blood with the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Great Western Air Ambulance air bases. All the riders hold an advanced motorcycling qualification, such as an IAM RoadSmart or

RoSPA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is a British charity that aims to save lives and prevent life-changing injuries which occur as a result of accidents. In the past, it has successfully campaigned on issues of road safet ...

test pass. There is also a requirement to retake this assessment every three years to maintain a high standard of riding. This partly due to insurance purposes but also tied into the aim of the charity to encourage safe riding and promote a positive image of motorcycling.

Items carried

The charity's volunteers transport blood for transfusion, tissue samples for

pathological Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

or microbiological analysis, drugs, patient notes, medical images and

medical device A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

s. It has also carried more unusual items such as

antivenom Antivenom, also known as antivenin, venom antiserum, and antivenom immunoglobulin, is a specific treatment for envenomation. It is composed of antibodies and used to treat certain venomous bites and stings. Antivenoms are recommended only if ...

and artificial limbs. Since 2010, Freewheelers has also been transporting

human breast milk Breast milk (sometimes spelled as breastmilk) or mother's milk is milk produced by the mammary glands in the breasts of women. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborn infants, comprising fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and a va ...

to and from the breast milk bank at Southmead Hospital.

Air ambulance

, EVS participated in a daily delivery of type O negative blood to Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Great Western Air Ambulance, with the latter also taking delivery of

fresh frozen plasma Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is a blood product made from the liquid portion of whole blood. It is used to treat conditions in which there are low blood clotting factors (INR > 1.5) or low levels of other blood proteins. It may also be used as the r ...

Beyond the area

If jobs require transport beyond the Freewheelers EVS area of operation, there is coordination with neighbouring blood bike charities to relay items and pass them on at pre-arranged handover locations. This goes for shipments leaving the area, such consignments of breast milk, or inbound items destined for the charity's area. Samples often require transport to the

NHS Blood and Transplant NHS Blood and Transplant is an executive non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom's Department of Health and Social Care. It was established on 1 October 2005 to take over the responsibilities of two separate NHS agencies: UK Transplan ...

centre at Filton. The site also houses the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory (IBGRL), which performs rare blood identification.

Motorcycles

Freewheelers owns and operates a fleet of blood bike liveried Yamaha FJR1300, BMW R1200RT-P and BMW F800GT motorcycles fitted with blue lights and sirens. Previously ex-police motorcycles were used, such as the Honda ST Pan-European series. The latest Yamaha FJR1300 motorcycles are the first to be purpose-built for Blood Bike duties through an arrangement between NABB and Yamaha with equipment designed and fitted by Woodway Engineering.

Funding

Freewheelers EVS is 100% funded by public donations. Money is raised through a variety of avenues with events highlighted on the website. These events range from bucket collections at supermarkets to giving talks to local groups. In 2010, the pupils of All Hallows Preparatory School near

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, some southwest of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. ...

staged a number of

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

events, including a sponsored

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

ride from John o' Groats to Land's End by two parents, to buy a new BMW R1200RT motorcycle, which was presented to Freewheelers on 1 July 2010. One of the pupils won a competition to name the new bike "The Flying Crane"—the school's logo is a Crane.

Accolades

On 2 June 2008, Freewheelers EVS was awarded the

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The King's Award for Voluntary Service, previously known as The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies. Until 2022, awardees were announce ...

, the highest award that can be given to a voluntary organisation in the United Kingdom and equivalent to an MBE. In July 2008, Freewheelers EVS was awarded the Chair's Community Award of 2008/09 by the Chair of

Council, Councillor David Bellotti at the Guildhall in

. In March 2016, Freewheelers EVS won the "Voluntary and Community Sector Team of the Year" category in the ''

Bristol Post The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It was ...

'' Health and Care Awards. In The People's Projects awards 2017, West Country East, Freewheelers EVS was voted one of the winners and awarded £30,000 of lottery funds to purchase two new FJR1300 motorcycles.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freewheelers Evs Blood bikes Charities based in Somerset Organizations established in 1990 1990 establishments in England