SERV - Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers, is a registered charity - Charity No. 284455;
(www.servsussex.org.uk), set up in 1981 to supply a rapid and reliable means of transporting Emergency blood, blood products, X-rays, patient notes and laboratory samples to hospitals at night, free of charge. As a local charity, SERV Sussex responds to in excess of 750 calls per year saving local hospitals on average £175,000. This allows re-deployment of much-needed funds for improved patient care and other essential facilities within the NHS.

Volunteer bike riders work on a rota waiting to respond to emergency calls relayed via their county controller. SERV Sussex volunteers generally use their own machines and pay for the petrol themselves. The use of a marked bike is also a possibility; these vehicles are used for riders who have been independently assessed and who can ensure cover any night of the week, when requested. Through public donations, SERV pays for the fuel and upkeep of these dedicated vehicles.

In addition to SERV Sussex covering Haywards Heath, Brighton, Worthing and Chichester hospitals, we also offer support to Eastbourne and Hastings hospitals. Furthermore, we are now supporting the national human milk banking service (www.ukamb.org/yourmilkbank.html) which is not financed by government money.

Our involvement revolves around collection of human infant milk from local donors and from the Trevor Mann baby unit in Brighton. We then facilitate a co-ordinated distribution of human milk for processing at milkbanks at St. Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey and in Southampton. We then transfer treated human breastmilk back to the Brighton premature baby unit at least three times a week and have carried out emergency runs of breastmilk at night from London to both Worthing and Chichester hospitals.

Dreamflight is a registered UK charity that changes young lives through taking seriously ill and disabled children, without their parents, on the holiday of a lifetime to Orlando, Florida.

Once a year, 192 deserving children from all over the UK, accompanied by a team of medical carers, board a chartered Boeing 747 and head to Florida to spend 10 magical days of fun and excitement.

Many children could not undertake such a trip without the support of the army of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and non-medical volunteers who care for the children 24 hours a day.