Around 2.5 million people in the UK are living with coronary heart disease and every six minutes someone dies from a heart attack.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is the nation’s heart charity, dedicated to saving lives every day – through pioneering research, caring for patients and families, campaigning for change, and providing vital information to help people care for their own heart health.

All of this work costs money – and lots of it. We fund more heart research than any other UK charity, and last year we invested nearly £13 million in to heart research in the East Midlands & the North of England alone.

We rely on donations of time and money from people just like you, to help us continue our work. Here is just some of what we do but of course, there’s so much more still to do – and that’s why your support is so precious to us. In the last few pages of this booklet you’ll find all sorts of ways in which you can continue to help us save people’s lives. Once again, thank you so much, we couldn’t do it without you.

• We fund and support 119 Heart Nurses in the North region
• In 2007/2008 over £467,000 was spent on life saving equipment in the region including defibrillators, electrocardiograph machines and ultrasound machines.
• It’s an incredible statistic that every minute of every day we spend over £173 per minute on heart research in the UK.
• Heartstart UK is a BHF–funded initiative that establishes training schemes to prepare people for such an eventuality and since 1995 over 1.6 million men, women and children have been trained. You can find out about your local group by contacting the Heart Save Office on 020 7554 0356 or 020 7554 0357 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Heart Support Groups - Many people with heart conditions, especially those who have had a heart attack or heart surgery, gain great support from meeting other people who have been through the same experience. The BHF Heart Health team develops resources and organises events to help heart support group’s network and share good practice. The team also helps new groups to get started. For more details, or to find out about your local support group, contact the BHF Heart HelpLine on 0300 330 3311.

To find out how to go about helping, please visit our website at bhf.org.uk or call 01623 624 558.

Together we can beat heart disease.