Director General's report

The Foundation was busy in the lead up to publication of the Government's White Paper on Health last November. In meetings with the then Health Ministers John Reid and Melanie Johnson, the BHF argued for tough action against second-hand tobacco smoke which increases the risk of heart disease by up to 25%. Coming legislation presents a significant step forward in saving lives, however, we continue to argue for a complete ban on smoking in public places.

Our battle against smoking has been supported by the Department of Health which awarded the BHF a further £5.9 million to develop our Give up smoking campaign. Now in its second year, the campaign has prompted 250,000 people to seek information and support to drop the habit.

We have been just as active in campaigning for better food labelling and limiting the promotion of junk food to children, up to 50% of whom will be obese within ten years unless we all take action. We launched the 'Well Fit!' multimedia and teaching resource in 2,930 schools throughout the UK, helping young people to make informed decisions about lifestyles, diet and exercise.

Evidence points increasingly to coronary heart disease (CHD) as a disease which reflects levels of disadvantage. People from deprived areas and minority ethnic groups are at greater risk and require tailored information and support. The BHF provides heart information in several Asian languages, working with NHS Trusts on health screening at Asian Mela festivals and ensuring that life-saving information is delivered where it is most needed.

Our Heart Information team responded to 30,000 enquiries by phone, email and letter in 2004 (from 19,415 in 2003). Our evaluation shows that 79% of callers to the BHF Heart Information Line were very satisfied with the quality of the service provided.

We now have 180 BHF Heart Nurses visiting patients in their own homes, providing them with the specialist care they need. Building on the success of this scheme, the BHF piloted Heart Failure Nurses, working with local NHS services to help patients requiring acute care. It was one of three projects, including the BHF's National Defibrillator Programme and cardiac rehabilitation programmes, to which The Big Lottery Fund contributed £4.3 million in 2004.

We made awards to 31 ambulance service NHS trusts across England for Community Defibrillation Officers and provided a share of 2,300 defibrillators to improve survival from cardiac arrest. Heartstart UK schemes have now trained one million people in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which doubles the chance of survival from cardiac arrest.

As the result of these activities, spending on Education and Care rose to just over a third of our total charitable expenditure. However our primary activity will remain the funding of excellent research. The absolute level of research spending was virtually unchanged from that in 2004-05 as the result of a slight fall in the number of grant applications which met the BHF's required standard. We do not believe that this will be a trend and in the first few months of 2005-06 our spending in education, care and vital research is significantly above that in 2004-05.

Our work would not be possible without the dedication of those who bring in the money. Income increased by 9% overall to £99 million as shown in the Financial Review, with a 6% increase delivered through fundraising thanks to fantastic events like the BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride which raised almost £3 million in sponsorship, a record amount. It was also a record trading year for BHF shops, achieving a net income of £9.6 million by doing a great job in an increasingly difficult and competitive high street environment. I offer my heartfelt thanks to retiring Medical Director, Professor Sir Charles George who leaves a massive imprint on the BHF. His successor Professor Peter Weissberg, who joined us in January from Cambridge, brings tremendous experience of both patient care and academic medicine; this is already shaping the direction of our work.

The Foundation is particularly indebted to Sir Richard Lloyd, who retired in December 2004 as President of the BHF after 28 years of dedicated service, including key roles as Treasurer and Chairman of the BHF Executive Committee. We miss his shrewd counsel and elegant wit.

This is a wonderful organisation doing exceptional things. I am proud and privileged to be associated with those who work for it, and those who support it. I would like to thank each of them for everything they have done.

Peter Hollins
Director General

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