Henry Smith MP has met with British Heart Foundation scientists and heart patients to hear how research is helping to save and improve the lives of the millions of people affected by heart disease.

Henry said;

“Heart disease is a devastating condition that affects people across Crawley and throughout our country.

“With the generous support of the public, charities like the British Heart Foundation are able to fund some of the world’s leading researchers, who work tirelessly to find the next major breakthrough that could help save more lives.”

There are an estimated 10,870 people in Crawley living with heart and circulatory disease, and seven million people across the UK. It causes a quarter of all deaths in the UK.

The BHF is the largest independent funder of cardiovascular research and spends around £100 million every year on world class research to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

The charity sector is by far the largest funder of life sciences research in our universities and every year the Government contributes £198 million towards the indirect costs, such as heating and electricity in laboratories, of charity-funded research.

Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the BHF, said;

“Any cut to science funding would be extremely damaging to our life saving research and the fight against heart disease.

“Through our research we’ve helped make great progress over the last 50 years to reduce the number of deaths from heart disease by more than 50 per cent and improve the lives of people living with it.

“This year alone our researchers have developed a highly sensitive blood test that could double the detection rate of heart attacks in women. And recently our researchers have improved our understanding of how we may be able to regenerate the heart after a heart attack bringing hope that one day there will be a treatment for severe heart failure.”

External links:
British Heart Foundationc
Donate (British Heart Foundation)