A charity claiming to have saved the NHS hundreds of thousands by providing it with a free blood delivery has hit out at the decision to ‘sacrifice it’ for a private firm in a £14 million deal.

Warwickshire and Solihull Blood Bikes (WSBB) have provided an emergency, out-of-hours motorcycle courier service across Coventry and Warwickshire for the past seven years.

But WSBB, which delivered blood products from Nuneaton, Rugby and Warwick to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW), will now be replaced by a QE Facilities Limited, a subsidiary company of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.

The charity has been providing the free blood delivery service since 2012 (Picture: Warwickshire and Solihull Blood Bikes)

The charity said it worked around 7,000 hours in ‘all-weather conditions’, saving the NHS nearly £700,000 since the service first kicked off in 2012, Nursing Notes reports.


Colston Hall renamed Bristol Beacon to shake off association with slave trader

A statement by chairman of WSBB Mark Lavery said: ‘All our unpaid volunteers are shocked at the decision.



‘We have committed significant time and effort to grow the group where public donations have enabled us to invest in five vehicles to maintain service in all weathers 365 days a year.

‘All that is now in jeopardy.’

WSBB claims it saved the NHS £700,000 in seven years of work (Picture: PhotoAlto)

It said an investigation is needed into how a ‘reputable charity can be sacrificed in a cash-strapped NHS’.

The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said any profit made from the contract, running until 2020, will be invested into healthcare.

It said the trust used a range of suppliers and that WSBB delivered only 1,000 items a year.

A spokesperson for the trust said: ‘With complexities increasing and the service potentially expanding to cover areas such as Hereford and Worcester, a decision was made to standardise delivery to ensure current and future needs, as well as stringent UK accreditation requirements, are met and exceeded.’

Got a story for Metro.co.uk? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.