The Scottish Emergency Rider Volunteer Service (ScotsERVS) is an independent Scottish registered charity
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We provide emergency medical transport services completely FREE to NHS Scotland – meaning regardless of time or distance units and hospitals
don't get charged. Trained dedicated professional volunteers provide support so NHS funds currently utilised in urgent transport (paid to expensive couriers or taxis) can be diverted back into where they are needed most: front-line services and patient care.
Our cover includes as standard out-of-hours services at night, daytime weekends and bank holidays (when couriers and taxis charge premiums) 365 days a year. From our historic home-base in NHSGGC (Greater Glasgow and Clyde) we provide active services support; our volunteers and transport network reaches all areas of Scotland - currently, supporters of our events and activities (including fundraising) are based throughout Scotland, and indeed the UK!. |
Uniquely our organisation is both a Charity and a recognised Emergency Service; we are proud to support and provide the sole dedicated service throughout NHS Scotland for Women's and Children's Health Initiative NICU/SCBU units (Neonatal Intensive Care / Special Care Baby Units) and to donor families by providing the only dedicated transport service for the lone Scottish Donor Milk Bank, based in NHSGGC Yorkhill Sick Children's Hospital.
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ScotsERVS transports items all over Scotland. Based within NHSGGC (Greater Glasgow and Clyde) a small dedicated professional team of volunteers operates services with only negligible funding - supported entirely through public donation. Yet, we are helping the NHS address inequality of access to vitally important medical services and items. Our on-call professional responders utilise specially adapted motorcycles and other vehicles to transport any urgently needed resources on request. ScotsERVS and our trained volunteers have the capability to safely transport Blood, Plasma, Platelets, Samples, Vaccines, Donor Breast milk, Surgical Equipment, Apparatus, Organs, Medical Notes and/or any other similar time or condition-critical resources.
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ScotsERVS as an Independent Charity is often overlooked for many avenues of funding; we currently receive no NHS or Government help
We're enabling the NHS to save funds to reinvest in core NHS staff and services at a time when our National Health Service is under increasing pressure to cut costs: we assist them save without compromising on service, staff funding or patient care. In the most urgent cases, the use of our emergency volunteer bikers free other emergency services personnel to return to their duties: enabling personnel such as Scottish Ambulance Service first responders, paramedics & ambulances to be deployed to deal with patients – instead of that highly-trained assets skills being wasted undertaking taskings as an alternative to an expensive courier.
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Our service volunteers are dedicated to supporting the effort, expertise and hardwork currently undertaken by the individuals of our National Health Service in Scotland; as volunteers we aim to provide assistance to/for any schemes currently in place or being developed by the NHS. In the case of Scotland's only Donor Milk Bank based in Yorkhill Children's Hospital, prior to ScotsERVS involvement, Neonatal Units out with NHSGGC had no reliable way to access the donor milk service, nor could families in other Health Boards contribute. This meant that a pre-term infant born in Glasgow with access to the donor milk service had a 60% greater chance of survival than an infant born with identical clinical needs born only a few miles away in Lanarkshire [Milk Bank Stats: Oct 2011].
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But ScotsERVS and the Donor Milk Bank are helping change that by implementing real sustained changes in our healthcare community – Since Oct 2011 ScotsERVS have provided the only Donor Milk Transport service in Scotland. Using specialist equipment purchased entirely through fundraising we have, and will, continue to play a major part in reducing infant mortality and addressing healthcare inequality throughout Scotland.
For this reason we also extended since 2011 to provide doorstep collections from new donor mums – a situation unthinkable simply through manpower and costs until ScotsERVS involvement. Through us, we're making it easier, faster and more equitable for the Milk Bank to replenish supply; we assist them in any way we can to take steps to meet the ongoing increasing demands for this vital neonatal healthcare resource. |
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For all our amazing successes, there always comes a price. Our service is provided completely free of charge and is supported entirely through generous public and private donations, gift funding and targeted company support as well as member fundraising for vital services/equipment and/or running costs. Originally built to service NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, ScotsERVS had to expand to address the needs and demand all over the country. So have our costs. Public perception, as a relatively new Scottish Service provider, still wrongly maintains we must be funded as part of the NHS or Government. YOU can help change that.
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To continue to uphold the excellent service standard we currently provide the NHS we need funding to facilitate our ongoing work and expansion plans. We require more volunteers and more funds to enable us to continue to improve, building upon our excellent reputation in the healthcare and wider community. We've managed to construct a solid foundation - but with YOUR support we can exceed our goals, be able to invest in purchasing and maintain new vehicles; buy specialist transport equipment, provide training and meet running costs. Most importantly, we want you to help us continue to save lives and save the NHS money - funds that can be reinvested back into where they are needed most... front-line services and patient care.
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If you'd like to be involved, if you are interested in offering your support, hardwork, ideas, donations; or if you/your organisation would be interested in participating in any of our fundraising opportunities, then contact us now - we would love to hear from you!
