News

This year, Heart Valve Voice advocate Marina McGrath has decided to take on a marathon of challenges to mark her 70th birthday and raise money for Heart Valve Voice. Every month until November, Marina will take on a different challenge to highlight the quality of life after heart valve disease treatment, starting with a 180-mile virtual walk from her home in Sale to the hospital in London where she was treated.

2023 was a fantastic year at Heart Valve Voice, with the charity going from strength to strength with our awareness work and supporting valve patients and their families. It is a testament to the hard work of the team and our patient advocates that despite the challenges we’ve faced throughout the year we’ve still been able to deliver award-winning campaigns and improve pathways for future patients.

This festive season you can support Heart Valve Voice by sending an e-Christmas card via the online platform ‘Don’t send me cards.’ For a donation of your own choosing you’ll be sent digital copies of your desired cards, which you can then share with friends, family and colleagues.

Last week, I was delighted to attend PCR London Valve 2023 with the Heart Valve Voice team and some of our incredible Patient Advocates. This year’s event was particularly special, as it saw the launch of Global Heart Hub’s Shared Decision Making Roadmap, a new resource which aims to improve patient experience for cardiovascular patients worldwide. 

This week at PCR London Valve, Heart Valve Voice held a Patient Engagement Session with our Patient Advocates to discuss Global Heart Hub's Shared Decision-Making Roadmap. The session looked a the roadmap from a UK perspective, and our advocates explained their experience of shared decision-making and looked at ways we can use the roadmap to improve patient experience in the UK.

Global Heart Hub (GHH) has partnered with The Health Policy Partnership (HPP) to develop a roadmap to support the implementation of shared decision-making in heart valve disease (HVD). Published to coincide with PCR London Valves 2023, the roadmap has been created to equip patient organisations, patient advocates and healthcare professionals across the world with the knowledge and guidance needed to make shared decision-making a reality in HVD care.