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 support network – currently over 300.

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 3 years, we have recognised the work of The Royal Brompton NHS Trust, the Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital and Barts Health NHS Trust in this way. In 2019, on 19th September, our hosts will be the Cardiovascular Sciences research group at the University of Leicester, where our theme will be ‘AD Research & Innovation’.

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 (www.thinkaorta.org) 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.

The new NHS Service Specification for Thoracic Aortic Disease: We are a part of the NHS Working Group developing a new national standard of care for Aortic Dissection patients.

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

National Screening Programme: Our collaboration with the University of Leicester on a research study that will produce the evidence needed to support our request to set-up a UK national screening programme for Aortic Dissection risk.

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.

Read our Constitution