Higgi Bike (Vampire 8) Report – October – November 2017

October & November have once again been busy months at Merseyside & Cheshire Blood Bikes, Record run stats show 558 Jobs in October & 530 Jobs in November with a further 2 days to go till month end. With pre-arranged runs now at 10 per day, There is another 20 to come in without the phone even ringing.

You may have seen in our social media posts this month we have been assisting with a premature baby called “Betty”. She was born in the Premature specialist “Neo Natal” unit homed at Liverpool Womens Hospital. She has been very unwell and requires a specialist formula that is made up at the special feeds unit at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital. This formula is made specifically for Betty and the quantities of its ingredients are changed on a day by day basis plus it has a limited shelf life.

All of the team have taken great pride in collecting and delivering this formula, and Vampire 8 has been a key player amongst the fleet of bikes attending 7 days a week.

As well as Milk runs, the Higgi Blood Bike has not been resting on her laurels it recently clocked 8000 miles (all of which being blood run work) and received its first new set of tyres. The New tyres of choice are Michelin Road pilot tyres, these unlike the standard tyres are multi compound tyres so offer much better grip in the wet and therefore improve the safety to the rider on board particular in the current weather.

Having the Adjustable Screen & Heated grips also makes this the weapon of choice for every shift.

A breakdown of Vampire 8’s duties this month includes:

Wirral Clinic Runs – As described in previous updates, The Higgi blood bikes carrying capacity makes this bike the perfect tool for the Job. We are expecting the clinic runs to increase in the new year to include pickups from the sexual health clinics across the Wirral as well as the current Phlebotomy runs we already carry (approx. 750 samples per day)

Aintree Renal / Walton Neurological Wards / Walton Organ Donation Units – Bike is currently based inside the quadrangle (4 Major Hospitals in Liverpool Central region) and is there for the sole purpose of it being available for life threatening Emergency calls such as cross match samples needed for organ donation or testing of frozen sections of a patients liver whilst they are still on the operating table. Both of these examples are time sensitive, Vampire 8 handles most of these due to its location and ability to handle these calls (blue lights kitted bike)

Clatterbridge Hospital – Particularly runs like Nuclear Medicines, Where the Patient is waiting for their blood to be made radioactive, Vampire 8 cuts down the delivery of the patients blood to the Laboratory in Liverpool Royal University Hospital by more than 40 minutes.

Clatterbridge have also added a new service where the doctor does their clinic over a Skype (Video Call) which means the patient doesn’t need to leave their home, Then the Drugs are dispatched to the patients home using a blood bike. This has proved a huge success and of course Vampire 8 has been heavily involved.

Marie Curie – A Hospice Based in the Walton area of Liverpool that is a charity in its own right, Completely rely on the Blood Bikes as they have absolutely no budget for couriers and Taxis, This can mean transporting anything from Patient Drugs, Blood Samples, Whole units of Blood, Equiptment, Urgent Case notes. Without Blood Bike assistance they would simply not be able to provide the same level of service to their patients as they do.

Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for your donation, and add that with the use of this bike we are making a difference to hundreds of lives, many of our runs the patient is completely unaware that they even relied on this service, However categorically it has saved lives already, Just based on the 17 Frozen Section runs it completed by V8 this year (section of the patients liver transported from Aintree to Liverpool Royal whilst the patient remains on the operating table)

Thank You

Merseyside & Cheshire Blood Bikes Operational Team