The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has awarded over £900,000 to fund four ambitious projects at centres across the UK. As part of the BHF’s Healthcare Innovation Awards, leading clinicians will explore new and innovative ways to improve the delivery of vital healthcare for heart patients.
The Fund's mission is to test and evaluate innovative approaches which will deliver improved services for patients with cardiovascular disease. From developing new digital platforms, to virtual wards, the four projects announced today will each receive between £130,000 and £310,000, united by the goal of improving patients’ experience of care.
Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “These four pioneering projects showcase how we can harness technology to improve care for patients with cardiovascular disease. From virtual wards to apps that connect patients and healthcare professionals, these projects will provide new insights in how to deliver the very best care for heart patients.
“We are delighted to fund these projects and look forward to seeing the progress they make. It is only with continued donations from our generous supporters that we can keep funding life-changing research and innovation, helping people live well with heart disease.”
Guiding treatment for heart failure
It’s estimated that over one million people in the UK have heart failure, and over half of these people have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Patients are usually started on a low dose of treatment that is gradually increased as necessary. While increasing dosage faster is associated with reduced symptoms and better outcomes, it requires support from specialist heart failure clinicians, which is limited in some areas.
To tackle this, Dr Michael Kuehl at University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire is developing a tool to advise healthcare professionals who are making decisions around patients’ medication. It will monitor factors like blood pressure, heart rate and side effects. The team’s ultimate aim is to develop an app that can be used by patients to safely manage their own dosage.
Virtual ward for atrial fibrillation
Professor Andre Ng at the University of Leicester will test a virtual ward for treating patients with acute atrial fibrillation (AF), a common heart rhythm disturbance affecting over 1.6 million people in the UK. Patients on the virtual ward record and send vital measurements from home and are managed remotely by a medical and nursing team.
They will test the virtual ward to monitor and treat acute AF patients from four centres across the UK, with the aim of developing a blueprint for wider use. If rolled out across the country, the researchers believe the virtual ward system could free up thousands of NHS beds and millions of pounds by reducing hospital admissions.
Giving a helping hand to carers of people with heart failure
Professor Donna Fitzsimons from the School of Nursing & Midwifery at Queens University Belfast will test a programme designed to support carers of patients with heart failure. These carers can experience mental and physical health problems, often as a result of the care work they do. To tackle this, researchers will test the HEart faiLure carer support Programme (HELP) with 180 carers at three sites across the UK.
The team will assess carers’ responses to the weekly online support sessions, as well as their quality of life and HELP’s cost effectiveness. This will provide useful information about how HELP could in future be embedded into routine care.
Little hearts at home – connecting parents and professionals
Alder Hey Innovation at Alder Hey Hospital has developed Little Hearts at Home (LHAH), a platform designed to improve monitoring and care for the estimated 6,000 babies born with severe congenital heart defects in the UK each year. LHAH connects parents with community care services, critical care teams and clinical staff, allowing them to input data to carefully monitor their babies’ health.
LHAH is a collaboration between Alder Hey Hospital’s Heart Centre and Innovation Centre, led by co-founders Dr Phuoc Duong, a paediatric consultant cardiologist, and Helen Walker, a cardiac nurse specialist. It has already halved emergency admissions to Alder Hey and improved quality of life for patients and families. The researchers now aim to reduce inequalities by further developing LHAH, allowing it to reach families in areas where community care services are less accessible.
The next round of the Healthcare Innovation Fund Awards opens in March 2025 with a further round in September 2025.
