Care

We will help attain the highest possible standards of care and support for patients.

We aim to achieve this by:

• understanding the day to day needs of people living with heart disease
• equipping patients and carers to maximise patient heart health and quality of life
• increasing resuscitation capacity, to help maximise heart attack survival
• responding to, and representing, the needs of patients and carers
• helping patients and carers to develop heart health services effectively
• investing in healthcare professionals to improve heart patients’ quality of life
• helping develop other organisations to build capacity in prevention and care
• promoting better training and accreditation for heart healthcare professionals,
• training and supporting more specialist healthcare professionals

Our achievements in 2009-10

In 2009-10 we funded or part-funded 421 healthcare professionals to help heart patients who need our support.

BHF healthcare professionals play a vital role in providing information, care and support to heart patients.

And this can be especially important when it comes to helping parents to cope with the terrible knowledge that their child has a heart condition.

Here’s just one story from this year. Kirsty and Jason Morgan were devastated to learn their baby Paige was born with a rare and complicated heart condition. She had her first surgery when she was just six weeks old.

The BHF nurse at Cardiff’s University Hospital was – and still is – a lifeline to the family. In the first days of Paige’s life, at a time of great confusion and worry, she came to speak to them and helped them understand Paige’s condition.

BHF healthcare professionals will help keep improving the quality of life for children and parents through expert specialist care at home and in clinics.

They’ll provide vital education, guidance and support to parents so that they can care for and monitor their children at home, following their progress from before birth to school days.

Changing the face of patient care

Our specialist healthcare professionals offer expert care, advice and emotional support for people with cardiac conditions ranging from heart failure to arrythmia.

In 2009-10 we supported 410 specialist heart nurses and produced a 12 page report to illustrate the history, development and impact of the BHF specialist nurse programme. The report called BHF Specialist Nurses - Changing the Face of Cardiac Care provides a comprehensive overview of the programme and its success.

BHF supports Specialist Fetal Cardiology Sonographer post

Most congenital heart defects can be diagnosed before a child is born, however, the accuracy of fetal screening can vary in different regions across the UK. We have teamed up with one of the UK’s leading Fetal Cardiology units at the Evelina Children’s Hospital to fund a Specialist Fetal Cardiology Sonographer.

This hands-on training will improve quality and standards, particularly given the evidence that diagnosing heart defects before birth can significantly improve the outcome for some forms of heart disease after the baby is born.