The British Heart Valve Society is the UK’s official professional organization concerned with all matters related to heart valve disease and is affiliated with the British Cardiovascular Society. Our society is composed of many different types of healthcare professionals – cardiologists, cardiac (heart) surgeons, general practitioners with an interest in cardiology, nurse practitioners, clinical scientists and cardiac physiologists.
We are a registered charity and use donations to help fund the activities of the society – these are principally around education for all healthcare professionals involved in treating patients with heart valve disease (doctors, nurses, physiologists, clinical scientists and others) as well as providing information to patients. We run meetings throughout the year aimed at improving knowledge and awareness of heart valve disease. We produce independent and professional statements and guidelines on a regular basis to help improve patient care.
Everything we do is designed to improve care for patients living with heart valve diseases. We work hard lobbying national policy groups, commissioners, and NHS managers to keep heart valve disease firmly on the map whenever NHS services are discussed and developed. The time and professional expertise required to produce vital guidelines – such as the COVID-19 statement for patients and the ‘Blueprint’ for network-based care in the UK (both released in 2020) – are given willingly by Council members of the Society, entirely without cost, as heart valve disease is what we are most passionate about.
We are a small society and every donation can make a difference to the work that we do. The bulk of our income comes from membership fees and profits we make from educational meetings – almost all of which are directed straight back into the society to improve our educational offerings and advice for healthcare professionals and patients. Your donation could help fund a new educational project for the BHVS website, which would be used by healthcare professionals or patients around the world, or it could help support a doctor, nurse or physiologist to attend a meeting or contribute towards a research project.
Donations can be made anonymously via our website or your details can be left with us; indeed, if you wish to dedicate your donation to the memory of a loved one with comments we can do this as well. If you would like to discuss your donation with us, please e-mail info@bhvs.org.uk and we would be very happy to talk to you about this.
Finally, a massive thank you for donating to our society and we will continue to work towards achieving the best care possible all across the country for patients with heart valve disease.
