SERV (charity)

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Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers

Founded| 11 July 1981 (1981-07-11)
Type| Registered charity
Location|

* England

Services| NHS motorcycle courier
Employees| 0

Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers / Service by Emergency Response Volunteers, or SERV, is the name used by a number of blood bike charities based in England, whose volunteers provide a motorcycle courier service, free of charge, to the National Health Service and the air ambulance charities. The original SERV group was established in 1981.[1]

## SERV groups

[edit]

Charities that use the SERV name operate across England:

* SERV Surrey & London,[2]
* SERV Sussex,[3]
* SERV Kent,[4]
* SERV Ox Bucks Berks and Northants (OBN),[5]
* SERV Suffolk and Cambridge,[6]
* SERV Norfolk,[7]
* SERV Wessex,[8]
* SERV Herts & Beds.[9]

Their volunteers work outside normal office hours and use either their own or the charity's dedicated response motorcycles to transport items such as blood for transfusion, blood samples for pathological or microbiological analysis, drugs, patient notes, x-rays, scans, medical equipment, samples, vaccines and donated human breast milk.

The SERV groups work closely with other blood bike groups when transport over longer distances is required, these are known as 'relay runs'. Some of the SERV groups were founder members of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB).[10]

## Recognition & COVID-19

[edit]

SERV charities clock up thousands of runs each year,[11] and rely solely on donations to run.[12]

Many SERV charities have been recognised for their work by receiving the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service (QVAS), most recently SERV Surrey and London and SERV Kent received their awards in 2020 and SERV Herts & Beds in 2022 for services during the pandemic.[13]

## Cars and four-wheeled Vehicles

[edit]

SERV Surrey & London DS3, Jan, donated by Charters. Pictured in front of Royal Holloway University, in Surrey.

Blood bike groups also have four-wheel vehicles for day-to-day use, and some groups only use four wheels when conditions deteriorate in the winter.[2]

Similarly to the motorcycles, all vehicles are bought and run purely on donations.[citation needed]

## Air Ambulance

[edit]

SERV charities often resupply regional air ambulances with blood products on a 24/7, 365 basis. This does involve volunteers going out and performing restock runs on Christmas Day.

SERV Surrey & London and SERV Kent both restock the Kent, Surrey, Sussex Air Ambulance (AAKSS), SERV Suffolk restocks the East Anglian Air Ambualnce, and so on.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Charity Overview". The Charity Commission. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
2. ^ a b "Home". SERV Surrey & London. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
3. ^ "Home". www.servsussex.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
4. ^ "SERV Kent Bloodrunners". www.servkent.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
5. ^ "SERV Ox Bucks Berks N'hants Blood Bikes". serv-obn.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 August 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
6. ^ "SERV – Suffolk and Cambridgeshire – Service by emergency response volunteers". Retrieved 20 April 2022.
7. ^ "Norfolk Blood Bikes". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
8. ^ "SERV Wessex – The Blood Runners". Retrieved 20 April 2022.
9. ^ "SERV Herts & Beds". SERV Herts & Beds. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
10. ^ "Home". Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
11. ^ "Busy year for SERV Wessex who complete 3,000th run". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
12. ^ "Medical bike saves lives in memory of father killed in motorbike crash". Wimbledon Times. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
13. ^ "Awardees". Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. Retrieved 21 April 2022.

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States