Our Campaign successes

Creating Healthier Environments

Campaigning for clean air

BHF-funded research has demonstrated links between exposure to air pollution and poor cardiovascular health. We have used this research to call for stronger policies to address air pollution. 

Although the UK Government’s Clean Air Strategy, published in 2019, recognised the huge health burden of air pollution and pledged to reduce the most harmful pollutants, BHF believed that more could be done to tackle this problem.

In 2020, BHF launched the ‘We’re all full of it’ campaign, with the aim to influence the government to adopt legally binding targets for levels of air pollutants, aligned with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines. The government later committed to reducing levels of air pollution through the 2021 Environment Act; however, the targets it set are not as strict as WHO guidelines.

In 2025, in its 10 Year Health Plan, the UK Government committed to review England’s air pollution targets and air quality strategy. BHF is still working with our partners at the Healthy Air Coalition to secure cleaner air for the population. We are calling on the government to introduce a new Clean Air Act, which follows WHO guidelines, and to publish a Clean Air Strategy with a structured plan to improve England’s air quality.

Creating a smokefree generation 

Smoking is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and the leading cause of preventable death in the UK. That’s why we've been campaigning for years to reduce the number of people dying from tobacco-related illnesses.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents a landmark piece of legislation, which among other things, seeks to create a smokefree generation by phasing out the sale of tobacco to younger generations across the UK. The Bill also bans the advertising and sponsorship of e-cigarettes (vapes) and nicotine products.

This Bill was originally introduced by the 2022 to2024 Conservative Government in March 2024, but it didn’t pass through Parliament before the General Election. It was then reintroduced by the Labour Government in November 2024 and is currently making its way through Parliament for approval.

This Bill marks a huge step towards achieving a Smokefree UK. BHF continues to work closely with partners at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), ASH Scotland, and ASH Wales to help ensure the Bill has the greatest possible impact on preventing ill health.

Restricting where less healthy food and drinks are placed in shops

Obesity is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and we have been calling for action to create a healthier food environment for a decade. In particular, we have been calling on government to better restrict the promotion and advertising of products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS).

In 2020, the UK Government announced a new obesity strategy, which included plans to restrict the location of multi-buy promotions for HFSS products in shops and TV advertising of HFSS products before 9pm, as well as a ban on paid-for advertising of these products online. BHF has consistently called on the government to introduce these measures without delay.

In October 2022, restrictions on the location of HFSS products in shops led to significant changes in store layouts and product displays. Limitations on multi-buy promotions of HFSS products were delayed to October 2025, while restrictions on advertisements of less healthy food and drink on TV and online were delayed to January 2026. We were disappointed by both delays and continue to work with our partners at the Obesity Health Alliance to ensure these regulations are effectively implemented, and to consider how they can be expanded in future to create a healthier food environment.

Helping Research Thrive  

We have been at the centre of the last 60 years of progress in cardiovascular research and we’re proud of the impact our work has delivered. However, these achievements are not ours alone and we could not have done it without the input of the government, other charitable funders and industry.  

Covid-19 support

The pandemic created a crisis in charity funding that threatened to weaken the UK’s medical research ecosystem, putting researcher careers at risk, and delaying the development of life-saving discoveries. We worked in collaboration with the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) to raise the alarm on this issue through our Research at Risk campaign.   

This ultimately led to the creation of the Medical Research Charities Early-Career Researcher Fund, which provides financial help and security to medical research charities while promoting early-career research talent within the UK. The government has supported over 1,000 early-career researchers through this fund, committing an additional £45m in 2024 to take total investment to date to over £100m.   

Promoting research in the NHS

A more research-active NHS will deliver better healthcare, outcomes and innovations for our communities. This was the principle behind our efforts to ensure that there was a stronger mandate within NHS integrated care boards to support and promote research. Working alongside supportive parliamentarians, AMRC and the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, we called for stronger measure to embed research at the heart of the NHS.

This was ultimately brought forward by government through the 2022 Health and Care Act, placing a duty on the NHS at a local level to facilitate and promote research, and NHS England to monitor and report on progress. With the abolition of NHS England announced in early 2025, it is unclear how accountability for the promotion and facilitation of research within NHS trusts will be delivered. This concern has already been raised in a report by National Voices, and we will work towards the delivery of new duties that strengthen the mandate for trusts to deliver research.

Association with Horizon Europe

The UK’s association to Horizon Europe was highly beneficial for EU and UK research, both financially and in terms of scientific opportunities. The UK’s non-association as a result of Brexit damaged  its collaborative research possibilities, reducing the country’s draw as an attractive destination for researchers. Alongside sector partners, we made strong recommendations to the government to prioritise Horizon association. We were therefore delighted with the government’s announcement in 2023 for the UK to rejoin Horizon Europe, ending years of uncertainty for the UK’s research community. In late 2024, the government signalled that it was ‘interested in potentially associating’ with FP10, the successor programme to Horizon, and delivered a paper outlining their design principles for the programme.  

Strengthening Health and Care systems  

10-Year Health Plan

In July 2025, the UK Government published its 10-Year Health Plan, which sets out a ‘new era’ for the NHS in England. The plan aims to deliver 3 key shifts: from hospital to community; analogue to digital; and sickness to prevention.

Crucially, the plan included a commitment to a new Modern Service Framework for cardiovascular disease (CVD) to be introduced in 2026, to help reach government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from CVD by 25% within a decade. We have long called for a dedicated plan to fix the heart care crisis through our Hearts Need More campaign, so we were delighted to see this, and have been working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on its development and implementation. We expect the framework to be published in Spring 2026.

We have seen progress via this approach before: the 2000s National Service Framework for coronary heart disease contributed to improvements in cardiovascular health. These included a 40 per cent decline in premature deaths from CVD, reduced elective waiting lists, and the eradication of long waits for treatment.

NHS workforce in England  

As part of the Strength in Numbers coalition, we worked with over 100 other health organisations to secure the inclusion of a duty, in the 2022 Health and Care Act, on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to publish a report at least once every 5 years on NHS workforce planning in England.
The coalition initially worked with former Health and Social Care Secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP, then Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, on a much stronger amendment to the Bill; however, this was rejected by MPs during the Bill’s passage through the House of Commons. A similar amendment tabled by Baroness Cumberlege when the Bill reached the House of Lords was accepted, but then later rejected again by MPs.   

Eventually, the UK Government agreed to amend the legislation, committing to report once every 5 years. The first of these reports was published in 2023: the Long-Term Workforce Plan was ambitious and much needed, but it did not include specific detail on the workforce of medical specialties, such as cardiology, due to a lack of available data. The Labour Government have since announced it will publish a new 10-Year NHS Workforce Plan in Spring 2026, so the coalition will continue to call for this data to be collected and published to better inform workforce planning.

CPR on the curriculum   

Following years of tireless campaigning alongside our partners St John Ambulance, the Resuscitation Council UK and British Red Cross, CPR and first aid was added to the school curriculum for secondary schools in England as part of wider Health Education classes. Government confirmed this historic change in 2019, however, there is currently no structured way to track whether this training is being delivered. We are working with the Department of Education to understand how to monitor and understand this better.

Organ donation opt-out   

In 2019, following campaigning by BHF and our partners, UK Parliament passed new legislation which meant that consent for organ donation in England would be presumed, unless someone specifically records a decision to opt out. The legislation, known as Max and Keara’s law, came into effect in May 2020 and provides a lifeline for the hundreds of patients waiting for a heart transplant.

In Scotland  

Smoking in cars   

BHF Scotland supported Jim Hume MSP, who introduced a Members’ Bill to the Scottish Parliament on 16th December 2014. The Bill’s aim was to protect children from the effects of second-hand smoke by making it illegal to smoke in a vehicle carrying anyone under the age of 18. The Bill passed Stage 3 and received Royal Assent on 21st January 2016 , the law came into force on 5th December 2016.

Organ donation   

After 6 years of campaigning alongside organ donor recipients, donor families and the clinical community in Scotland, BHF Scotland welcomed the passing of the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Act 2019 in June 2019. The opt-out system came into effect on 26 March 2021.

New Heart Plan   

BHF Scotland worked with over 75 clinicians and 25 patients across Scotland to research, develop and deliver a comprehensive plan for tackling heart and circulatory disease in Scotland. In March 2021, the Scottish Government published the first new heart disease plan in over a decade which included much of the work done by BHF Scotland and colleagues.

CPR training in schools   

Between April 2018 and May 2019, BHF Scotland worked with all 32 local authorities in Scotland to gain political and institutional commitments to ensure that every pupil in Scotland is trained in CPR before they leave school.

In Wales  

Smoking in cars   

Wales was the first UK nation to legislate against smoking in cars carrying children. The Welsh Government passed the law in 2014, coming into force on 1 October 2015 alongside similar legislation in England.

New Heart Plan   

BHF Cymru collaborated with clinicians, patients, and the Welsh Government to develop a new strategy for tackling cardiovascular disease in Wales. The Heart Conditions Quality Statement was launched in 2021, outlining priorities such as early detection, improved access to treatment, and enhanced rehabilitation services.

CPR training in schools  

BHF Cymru worked with the Welsh Government to ensure that CPR training is included in the new curriculum in Wales. As a result, all secondary school pupils in Wales are now expected to receive CPR training before they leave school, helping to create a generation of lifesavers.

Women’s Health Plan for Wales  

In 2024, the Welsh Government launched its first ever Women and Girls’ Health Quality Statement, influenced by BHF Cymru’s ‘Bias and Biology’ campaign. The plan prioritises heart disease, recognising that over 100,000 women in Wales live with the condition and often face misdiagnosis and unequal care.

In Northern Ireland  

CPR and defibrillators on the school’s curriculum  

BHF NI had been campaigning to promote and include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillator (AED) awareness into the school curriculum.

As of March 2022, the Northern Ireland Department of Education implemented changes that incorporated CPR and defibrillator (AED) awareness into the Learning for Life and Work curriculum at Key Stage 3.

Organ Donation Law change – soft opt-out  

BHF NI has long advocated for a soft opt-out system for organ donation, aiming to increase the number of life-saving transplants. Working in collaboration with Donate4Dáithí and other partners, BHF NI emphasized the urgent need for legislative change to address the shortage of organ donors in Northern Ireland.

The new legislation came into effect on 1 June 2023 and introduced a soft opt-out system for organ and tissue donation in Northern Ireland. Under this system, all adults are considered potential donors unless they explicitly opt out or belong to an excluded group (such as those under 18 or lacking mental capacity).

Smoking

BHF NI have been campaigning on a range of actions to reduce the impact of smoking.

The 10-year tobacco control strategy has now expired, but it brought about many changes such as a ban on smoking vending machines, a ban on the display of tobacco products at point of sale to all retail businesses in April 2015, and extended smoke-free provisions to include private vehicles carrying children from February 2022.

BHF NI continue to campaign for a successor tobacco control strategy and the implementation of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to Northern Ireland, once it is passed.

Women’s health

Following the publication of the Northern Ireland report Bias & Biology: the heart attack gender gap, BHF NI has been calling on the Department of Health to publish a women’s health action plan and strategy. Following engagements with the department, the women’s health action plan is expected to be published before the end of 2025, with cardiovascular conditions being included as an area of action.

Heart conditions seen as a priority

The Northern Ireland Cardiology Network is currently developing its first 3-year workplan. The network's role is to identify and address key priorities in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of cardiac disease. In 2022, the Cardiology Network received funding for its first clinical lead and has since continued to focus on areas such as heart failure, prevention, and cardiac rehabilitation services.