Monday 7th November 2016

Heart Valve Voice held a successful launch of its Vision Report in Parliament on Tuesday 1st November.

Our new report ‘Towards a Heart Healthy Future: A 2020 Vision for Heart Valve Disease’ sets out our recommendations to NICE and creates a roadmap for our activity throughout 2017.

The event was a huge success, with over eighty clinicians, policy makers, MP’s and patients in attendance, including notable figures such as Professor Huon Gray, the National Clinical Director for Heart Disease, he was on hand to listen to our patient stories and the achievements we’ve made this year.

Phil MacCarthy, Consultant Cardiologist, Kings College Hospital said “It was wonderful to see some many policy makers, clinicians and most importantly patients in the same room to explore the inequalities of diagnosis and treatment in the UK, of this very treatable disease. I’m looking forward to working with Heart Valve Voice in the near future’

28 Parliamentarians from across the main political parties attended the launch, including former Shadow Health Minister, Andrew Gwynne MP, SNP Health Spokesperson, Dr Philippa Whitford and Science and Technology Committee members Jim Dowd and Derek Thomas. Many of the MPs and Peers who attended took time to speak with the patients and clinicians in the room.

It was particularly pleasing to have Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Heart Disease, Stuart Andrew MP, attending and delivering a highly engaging speech about how he and the APPG can support the work of Heart Valve Voice. He personally and wholeheartedly committed himself and the APPG to working with us to address the challenges set out in the report.

Principal Investigator of the OxVALVE study, Professor Saul Myerson, then joined Stuart Andrew and our CEO Wil as a speakers on the evening. He very articulately and clearly set out the key findings of the ground-breaking study, the increasing incidence of heart valve disease in the UK and the challenges facing patients, including access to echocardiography and effective treatments. It sent a very powerful message to those in the room about the need to take action to address these issues.

“It is worrying that there are such discrepancies in the treatment of heart valve disease patients across the UK. This simply isn't good enough – where you live shouldn’t have a bearing on the type of care you receive,” said Professor Bernard Prendergast, Consultant Cardiologist, Guys and St Thomas'. He also added “Its excellent that Heart Valve Voice is bringing these issues direct to Parliament and in front of policy makers’