Charity History
Wessex Heartbeat was established in 1992 and thanks to the generosity of many individuals and organisations over the years, we have been able to make a real difference to the care of the patients of the Wessex Cardiac Centre (WCC) in Southampton. Now a Centre of Excellence, the WCC treats over 20,000 patients annually and around 1000 babies and children born with congenital heart defects. 
We have been able to achieve a number of goals over the years and one of our proudest has been the creation of Heartbeat House. The last thing a patient needs to worry about when they're receiving treatment is the welfare of their loved ones and this house, located within a few minutes walk of the hospital, provides free-of-charge accommodation for relatives of cardiac patients. It can quite literally be a haven during difficult and stressful times, but it costs £1,000 per week to run and maintain it and every penny is met through voluntary donations.
Wessex Heartbeat has, over the years, raised funds for several million pounds worth of specialist equipment. This includes a Babypod and a PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit) Ambulance . The £1million refurbishment of the children's ward - Ocean Ward - has made it one of the finest facilities of it's kind in the UK, thanks to funding from Wessex Heartbeat supporters. The Heartbeat Education Centre provides state-of-the-art equipment for the Wessex Cardiac Centre to use free of charge for staff training and conferences. This facility is also available (reasonably priced) to commercial customers and at a reduced rate to the NHS. 
We don't receive any financial support from the government and so every donation we receive is invaluable to us. We are very proud of our achievements to date, but there is always more for us to do. Our newest initiative aims to keep people aware of the importance of keeping your heart healthy. Aimed at businesses and organisations in the Wessex area, our ‘Your Healthy Heart ' campaign provides employees with an on-the-spot health check. A donation of just £5 helps us to offer another of these checks and could help us prevent someone developing heart disease.
We are also turning our attention to the issue of caring for young adults with congenital heart problems. Thanks to advances in cardiac medicine, the long term prognosis for babies born with congenital heart defects has improved considerably and consequently, the number of young people living with this condition is also rising. As they continue to need treatment during their adult lives, we hope our continued support will help make further differences to the care they receive.
