The Patient Charity

Founded by a small group of Aortic Dissection survivors in 2016, we grew rapidly to become the national patient association in 2018 and a registered charity in 2022. We are the voice of Aortic Dissection patients and their families in the UK & Ireland.

 

Our work involves raising awareness of Aortic Dissection; providing vital information and support for patients and families affected by the condition; working with healthcare providers to improve diagnosis & treatment and reduce healthcare inequalities; and partnering with researchers to bring forward new insights that improve future care for Aortic Dissection patients.

We measure our success by the increasing number of Aortic Dissection survivors joining our free online support network – now over 1,000 – and by the changes we see happening in the Aortic Dissection landscape. Recently, these have included:

• Publication of the first-ever national guidance on diagnosing Aortic Dissection in an emergency – the result of a joint initiative by The Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal College of Radiologists, working with our highly-successful THINK AORTA campaign.
• Agreeing a set of national Aortic Dissection research priorities with the Department of Health, which are now being used by funding bodies to guide their decision-making on Aortic Dissection research proposals.
• Publication of the new NHS England acute Aortic Dissection toolkit, to enable Aortic surgery centres to improve their services and patient pathways and end the unwarranted regional variation in care and outcomes that currently exists.

We partner with healthcare organisations, researchers, policy-makers, industry and charities who share our vision, enabling them to access the power of the patient voice, become more patient-centred and deliver real patient benefits.

We are legally constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), with voting members other than the Trustees. Our governing document is on the Charity Commission website.