Based in Birmingham, the six trustees at the Hearts of England Association hold fundraising events such as quiz nights, shows and lunches to raise money for hospitals and charities. More often than not these donations are for heart-related pieces of equipment such as defibrillators.

The Hearts of England donation was awarded as part of the fundraising for our Heartfelt appeal, where we are looking to raise £800,000 to create a new state-of-the-art Cath Lab to help patients suffering from structural heart conditions.

The equipment and the size of the new lab mean that the clinicians will be able to teach surgeons across the UK about minimally invasive heart surgery techniques, which are only currently available at Oxford Hospitals.

The trustees agreed that the Cath Lab fell under their grant remit and decided to contribute towards the cost of an ACIST CVi Injector for Oxford Heart Centre. The ACIST CVi Injector is incredibly important to the project, allowing quicker operations and decreasing the chances of contrast-induced nephropathy (impairment of kidney function). The lab we are supporting specialises in structural heart operations.

Speaking on behalf of the charity Megan Jones said: “We would like to say a huge thanks to The Hearts of England Association for their generous donation - this money will allow us to make a massive difference to patients attending our local hospitals. Cath labs are vital and where surgeons diagnose and surgically treat various heart problems.

Oxford Heart Centre is the third largest site in the country for Transcatheter aortic valve implantation operations and is also one of just a handful offering minimally invasive Mitral Valve operations.”

John Desmond from the Hearts of England commented; “ Our fundraising was quite heavily impacted during the pandemic but with the help of our wonderful donors at our fundraising events, we were pleased to be able to support the Cath Lab and to contribute to the lifesaving equipment that will help heart patients.”

Thanks to donors like the Hearts of England Association, Oxford Heart Centre will become a renowned teaching facility for this critical area, meaning more high-risk patients with heart disease will receive the life-enhancing treatments they need locally in the future.