Cornwall Air Ambulance supports National Blood Bike Awareness Day

Cornwall Air Ambulance is proud to be supporting National Blood Bikes Awareness Day and celebrating our close partnership work with Cornwall Blood Bikes.

The day (11^th August 2023) celebrates the 35 Blood Bike groups across the country, with over 4,500 volunteers providing a free service to the NHS and associated partners.

The crew have been carrying blood products on board your helicopter since December 2020, giving the crew the option to start transfusions before a patient even reaches hospital. This is thanks to a partnership between the blood transfusion service at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, South Western Ambulance Service Trust and Cornwall Blood Bikes.

The blood is transported daily from the Royal Cornwall Hospital to the Cornwall Air Ambulance airbase in Newquay, 365 days a year and whatever the weather, thanks to the volunteer riders from Cornwall Blood Bikes.

Within just a few days of the service launching, a Cornish teenager became the first person to receive a lifesaving blood transfusion at the roadside.

17-year-old Zack Hancock received an emergency transfusion on the roadside following a serious road traffic collision at St Tudy, which left him with life-threatening injuries. He was airlifted to Derriford Hospital and spent 11 days in a coma. Despite significant internal injuries, Zack made a full recovery.

Lisa Ball, Critical Care Paramedic at Cornwall Air Ambulance, said: “We carry both plasma and packed red blood cells, which means we can administer blood products to a patient suffering a life-threatening haemorrhage from either medical or traumatic events. Being able to deliver transfusions at the scene of an incident has significantly enhanced the level of service we can provide to patients and really is a lifesaving intervention.”

Last year, the crew carried out 14 potentially lifesaving blood transfusions.