Motorcyclist couriers work throughout the night ferrying blood products, breast milk and test samples to and from hospitals
Andy Stacey has spent his morning collecting breast milk. It’s been an average Tuesday for the retired 51-year-old; knocking on the doors of nursing women who donate their milk and packing bottles of it on to his motorbike so he can ferry it all to a milk bank at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, where it will be given to sick or premature babies. Back in the living room of his cottage in Dorney, near Windsor, he awaits orders for his evening shift. At 7.02pm, his phone buzzes. He murmurs in agreement to the voice on the other end – the controller on duty – and takes a last gulp of tea. Minutes later, having negotiated his way past cows crossing village lanes, he is hurtling down the M40 to make his second trip of the day, transporting platelets to the hospital.
Stacey is a blood biker – one of a team of almost 2,700 volunteers in the UK who provide a rapid response medical courier service to the NHS. He first signed up at a car show and says: “It married up my passion for motorcycles and enabled me to give something back. It’s just something I felt I should do. I’ve not regretted it, it’s been great fun.”
Continue reading...from Voluntary Sector Network | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2qBuHNv
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