Who we are About us About us Our purpose We exist to ensure that people being treated at the Wessex Cardiac Centre are provided with the best possible care and support. Cardiac treatment is often a very long and complicated journey, affecting many people in separate ways. Our work over the years has allowed us to ensure that everybody, from patients to friends and relatives; will be supported every step of the way. “As National Clinical Director for cardiovascular disease, and former Wessex Heartbeat Trustee for twenty years, I was and still am enormously grateful for everything the charity and its supporters have done to help us improve cardiac care. At the Wessex Cardiac Centre we treat more than 20,000 people with heart conditions every year including in excess of 1000 children. Helping people avoid heart disease, and treating those who have it is my passion. Having our own Charity sharing that passion is a huge bonus for our patients and their relatives; indeed for all of us” - National Heart star Professor Huon Gray Together we make the difference The combination of world class clinical teams and significant investment in the Wessex Cardiac Centre have turned it into one of the foremost Cardiac Centres in the UK and Internationally. Despite this, what is best today can be made better tomorrow as advances in care happen, and we learn more about what patients and their relatives want and need, to have the smoothest journey home possible. Therefore, what Wessex Heartbeat do is becoming increasingly important every day. The well over £16 million we’ve raised together with our supporters since 1992, has put in place crucial improvements in the Wessex Cardiac Centre, that wouldn’t otherwise have happened; the same improvements that patients, their relatives, doctors, nurses and many others, consistently tell us make a real difference. Help us make a difference Some of our most notable projects include the creation of Heartbeat House, the children’s Ocean Ward and the Heartbeat Education Centre. We also lead the development of the YACU (Young Adult's Cardiac Unit), as well as regular funding of leading-edge equipment, clinical education and research. We are always striving to improve every single area of cardiac care, from education and prevention to treatment and rehabilitation; there are no shortage of inspired and cutting-edge ideas that we are looking to bring to fruition.