Sailing Week are delighted to have Wessex Heartbeat as the Lead Charity Partner for both the Southampton and Portsmouth events.

Wessex Heartbeat are celebrating 30 years of supporting those with heart disease and just as importantly their families, through support and funding of the Wessex Cardiac Centre, (making it one of the leading centres in Europe), their staff and of course our amazing HeartbeatHouse.  We are instrumental in helping everyone in the Wessex region adjusting to life with a heart condition.

Wessex Heartbeat, like so many other amazing charities has been heavily impacted by COVID19, it has affected our income, our events, and how we deliver our services.  It comes as no surprise that our income fell by almost £300,000 in 2020.  However, we did not let the pandemic stop us delivering our support or services to the community and have committed to spend £400,000 in support of our astonishingCardiac Centre, our medical staff, and our community in 2021/22.

Last year we funded £60,000 for educational videos in support of our patients, which will support communication and understanding of their procedures.  We have funded a£40,000 grant in the recruitment of a Heart Specialist Nurse to support our community and have also approved and paid for some cutting –edge research which could lead to a single blood test that can identify patients at risk of developing angina, and the development of medications that could reduce the development of coronary plaque.

We have started the refurbishment plan ofHeartbeat House by refurbishing the bathrooms and shower rooms to the cost of over £65,000 and have committed further money for further alterations, furniture and soft furnishings. We are planning our Healthy Living Centre, which will support hundreds of cardiac patients and their families in their recovery and support.

This is a very exciting time for us at the charity, the challenge will continue but we couldn’t do all our work without your support for which we thank you.