What We Do
Our mission is to save lives by improving diagnosis of Aortic Dissection and ensuring that every family affected by this disease has access to the best available information, care and support.
We are a registered charity led by patients, for patients. We were named the UK's Best Specialist Patient Support Charity in the 2023 Non-Profit Organization Awards. Membership of the charity is free to anyone affected by or interested in aortic dissection. Join us today.
Our success is measured by the increasing number of aortic dissection survivors, relatives and healthcare professionals joining us and by the changes we see happening in the aortic dissection healthcare landscape. Recently, these have included:
- Publication of the first-ever national guidance on diagnosing acute Aortic Dissection by The Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal College of Radiologists, working with our THINK AORTA campaign.
- Agreeing a national set of national Aortic Dissection research priorities with the Department of Health, which have resulted in an additional £4 million (and counting) funding for Aortic Dissection research since 2020.
- Publication of the new NHS England Acute Aortic Dissection toolkit, to help regional Aortic centres to improve their services and patient pathways in order to end the 'postcode lottery' of regional variation in care and outcomes.
- A reported 68% increase in emergency Aortic surgery cases in the UK between 2014-2021, as a result of awareness initiatives such as our charity, our annual AD Awareness Day and our life-saving THINK AORTA campaign.
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, be more patient-centred and deliver real patient benefits.
