Norfolk Bloodbikes – How Covid 19 has affected what we do as a Charity
We seem to have been overtaken by the Covid 19 Virus and lockdown. This had consequences which we had to address. All events and fundraising were cancelled. Essential awareness & profile increasing talks we give to the community were also cancelled and we saw our income dry up.
But we have amazing members and supporters who have managed to keep some funding coming in!
We had a dual head shave which raised £2300, then a 14hour music marathon which has raised another £850, and then a supporter did a 4day virtual cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats, 874miles in 4days raising £1500 for us. Finally, we received a donation of £2000 from the Royal Household Warrant Holders Association Charity. These donations have softened the impact of our income decreasing. The good news is, that we have been chosen as Charity of the Year by the Sandringham Royal Warrant Holders for the year 2021 to 2022 and will look forward to working with them.
Covid 19 has affected what we do as a charity
So, to recap, our normal routine covered supplying the Air Ambulance as a stakeholder in the RePHILL trial. This is a 3year trial to determine whether giving blood at the scene of an accident has any beneficial outcome for the patient in recovering. The trial is totally randomised, we and the crews have no idea if there is blood or saline in the boxes we deliver daily, until they are opened on scene. The trial will be concluded in December 2020. Without NBB involvement as an essential stakeholder, the trial would not have gone ahead.
Our deliveries of blood, blood products, path lab samples and any item required for the clinical treatment of patients in the 3 Norfolk NHS Hospitals continued as normal. Our collection and deliveries of Donor Breast Milk (DBM) has continued to and from the milk banks, including the new regional milk bank hub in Norwich, and to the hospital NICU’s. Covid 19 has changed all this. Why? Initially we had contracts, called Service Level Agreements with the 3 main hospitals. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, The James Paget Hospital in Gorleston and the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in Norwich. We started delivering Covid samples from the 3 main hospitals to Microbiology in the research park in Colney. It started as a trickle but in line with increased testing, demanded by the Government, we are transporting more and more samples on a nightly basis. In addition, 8 more smaller community hospitals have now asked us to transport their samples as opposed to sending by taxi. Now we have 11hospitals to look after and the number of samples delivered, has gone up to 257, from the end of March through to the end of May. In addition, there has been an increase in the collection and delivery of Donor Breast Milk during the daytime as well. All this is on top of our normal tasks. At the peak of the pandemic, the Air Ambulance suspended the RePHILL trial as the staff in Haematology were now tasked with Covid related items. We had an increase in Covid samples, increased DBM and all on top of a drop in fundraising income.
How do we manage? 2 items of good news came our way.
1, HMRC after years of negotiations declared all liveried blood bikes would now be classed as ambulances and are now exempt from the road fund licence, with effect from 1st April 2020.2, BP Fuel declared, they would supply free fuel for all emergency vehicles, including liveried blood bikes until 4th June.. These 2 items alone will save us a lot of money. RFL alone is £1500 per year, and our monthly fuel costs are in the region of £1300 per month, so these are big savings for us. With these savings, we decided to give our volunteers a pay rise to take their pay from £0.00 to £0.00 and the same applied to our charges to the NHS, no increase. It will remain a free of charge service by unpaid volunteers Thanks to sound financial planning over the last 3 years, we are in a good position to ride out the storm, (cue music “Riders on the Storm” by the Doors) , but it will affect our fleet replacement program. We are looking at funding and need to raise £150,000 for 10 bike replacements over the next 2 years from 2021. A milestone for us was reached in April when we completed 8,000 callouts since starting in October 2012. At an average cost to the hospitals of £70.00 per callout we have saved the NHS £560,000 and many lives in the process. In 2021, we will be holding our 1st ever Charity Golf Day, sadly this year it had to be cancelled due to Covid. Has your company experience of sponsoring sporting events? We are looking for a sponsor, who wants to be actively involved and we would be pleased to discuss our plans with you. Please contact me via email or mobile 07538 785022
Can you help?
By following us on Facebook, Norfolk Blood Bikes, share and like our page. By visiting our website By donating For further information please email us at [email protected]