A life-saving charity that works quietly behind the scenes providing support to the NHS and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Service (KSS) has just achieved a major milestone.

It is 10 years since Service by Emergency Response Vehicles (SERV) Kent began running blood supplies to the air ambulance for the helicopters’ paramedics to carry with them on their life-saving missions.

The service, staffed by volunteers, means crews can give an immediate blood transfusion to critically-injured patients rather than them having to wait until they had been flown to hospital.

In the last year alone, this enabled air ambulance medics to administer blood or plasma to 149 patients – many of whom would not have survived without receiving this time-critical treatment at the scene.

An air ambulance spokesman said: “Through our partnership with SERV Kent, we became only the second UK air ambulance (after London) to carry blood on board – an innovation which has transformed pre-hospital emergency care and has led to significantly improved patient outcomes.”

Richard Lyon, KSS associate medical director, said: “The commonest life-threatening issue for patients who suffer major injuries after an accident is bleeding.

"Without an early blood transfusion, trauma patients can ‘bleed out’ and die before they reach hospital.

"Having the ability to transfuse blood products on the side of the road can be life-saving.

"SERV have rapidly and reliably delivered blood products to our medical teams for a decade.

"The dedication and commitment of the truly inspirational SERV volunteers has allowed us to save many lives.”

Trevor Sayer is the events and fundraising coordinator for SERV Kent, nick-named the Bloodrunners.

The charity uses a network of 200 volunteers who largely use their own motorbikes or cars to transport vital supplies wherever needed.

Mr Sayer said: “We started supporting the air ambulance – then just the Kent Air Ambulance – on February 4, 2013.

“Every night, one of our riders would collect fresh blood from the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and deliver it to the helicopter’s base in Marden.

"It would come in a temperature-controlled box, containing four litres of O Negative blood, which can be administered to anyone.”

Since then, the Kent Air Ambulance has combined with Surrey and Sussex and is based at Redhill.

Mr Sayer said: “Now we do the run to Redhill every other night, but we also take plasma as well.”

The volunteers have also helped patients with kidney problems to have their dialysis treatment at home.

Mr Sayer said: “We were actually founded in 1993 and so will be celebrating our 30th anniversary later this year.”

The charity owns six motorbikes and four cars of its own and is provided with one additional vehicle by the Henry Surtees Foundation, but the vast majority of the 200 volunteers use their own vehicles, and all pay for their own petrol.

Each commits to doing two or three 11-hour shifts a month.

Why do they do it? Mr Sayer said: “Well for one thing it’s a great team. There’s a lot of camaraderie.

“And there’s a social side – for example we had a great Rock and Roll night at the Parkwood Leisure Centre in Rainham last month to celebrate the 10th anniversary. But a lot of people also have personal reasons for wanting to help.”

Sadly this often means that they themselves or a relative or friend has found themselves in need of emergency help.

Mr Sayer, from Boughton Monchelsea, who joined SERV Kent in in October 2010, has experienced the personal distress of having his own son paralysed in a road accident.

But he said: “Being a Bloodrunner is tremendously rewarding. If we are out at a fundraising event, often people will come up and say ‘thank you so much, you saved my husband’s life’.

“When you make the blood runs, you never know who it is you are helping or what the outcome will be, but you know you are helping someone, somewhere.”