About Us

About Us

Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland is the national patient association for people affected by Aortic Dissection and their families. We are the voice of Aortic Dissection patients in the UK & Ireland.

Our work involves raising awareness of Aortic Dissection, its diagnosis and treatment; providing vital friendship, support and advice for patients and family members; encouraging research into the condition; and working with healthcare providers to ensure that best practice diagnosis and care for Aortic Dissection are implemented consistently across the UK & Ireland.

We measure our success by the increasing number of Aortic Dissection survivors joining our free online support network – currently over 600.

Annual Report

Our 2020-21 Annual report is now available and can be read and downloaded here:

Events

Every year, we award the honour of hosting our flagship annual conference – Aortic Dissection Awareness Day UK – to a centre that we believe is doing excellent work in the field of Aortic Dissection. Over the last 6 years, we have recognised the work of the Royal Brompton NHS Trust, the Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, the BHF Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre at the University of Leicester and the Bristol Aortic Service.

In 2022, on 19th September, our hosts will be University College London, where a significant research programme about ‘Engineering the Future of Aortic Surgery’ is under way, using cutting-edge computer simulations and artificial intelligence.

Projects

We also have a number of current projects targeting improvements in the diagnosis and care of Aortic Dissection patients in the UK & Ireland:

Think Aorta: Our patient-led Think Aorta campaign raises awareness of the condition and provides accredited learning resources to help medical professionals improve the diagnosis and treatment of Aortic Dissection in the emergency setting.  See the dedicated website…

The new NHS Toolkit for Thoracic Aortic Dissection: We are a part of the NHS Working Group developing a new toolkit to improve standards of care for Aortic Dissection patients.

Aortic Dissection: A UK Strategy: Our patient-led partnership is developing a national strategy to address the UK’s challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of Aortic Dissection, which costs 3,000 lives every year.

Screening/Prevention: We are collaborating with the BHF Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre at the University of Leicester in a research programme that we expect will lead to a screening and treatment pathway for those at risk of Aortic Dissection.

Membership

Membership of the Association is free to patients, relatives, carers and healthcare professionals with an interest in Aortic Dissection.  As a voluntary patient association, we rely on a team of dedicated volunteers, many of whom are Aortic Dissection survivors, to do our work.  We are funded entirely by the generosity of individual donors and organisational sponsors who share our vision for improving the diagnosis and treatment of Aortic Dissection patients in the UK and Ireland.

Our Organisation

We are legally consituted as a Voluntary Unincorporated Association with full visibility of our structure and Constitution, as below.  We may convert in due course to a registered charity but only if that has significant advantages and at the right time.

You can read our Constitution here.

Our Organisation chart: