A Cardiff based heart charity says more money should be going into front line heart services like screenings to save lives, rather than putting it all into research.
The call comes after £2.3 million of funding was announced yesterday by British Heart Foundation Cymru for Swansea University to research premature deaths caused by cardiac arrest.
Dr Justin Taylor, a consultant cardiologist who works with Welsh Hearts, says whilst research is important, front line services also need more money.
“Research is very important to understand the causes of disease and develop new treatments. But front line services need more money.”
“Welsh Hearts is training adults and children in basic life support, placing defibrillators in public places, and screening for inherited cardiac diseases.”
“Historically these services have not been given priority they deserve and Welsh Hearts is trying to change that.”
One young person under the age of 35 dies every fortnight from sudden cardiac arrest in Wales.
Frank Brock, from Cardiff, says he owes his life to a Welsh Heart’s defibrillator which was at Cardiff Central Station when he had a cardiac arrest.
“I know that without that defibrillator I would have been very unlikely to survive.”
Welsh Hearts offer free heart screenings in an attempt to detect undiagnosed or undetected inherited heart conditions.
Screening 120 people in one day costs £6,000. Without more funding the charity says they can’t screen as many people as they’d like to.
But British Heart Foundation Cymru says the research funding is needed to carry out detailed investigations and improve medicines.
“We hope that the progress of this research, and the science we fund, will improve and save lives across Wales and have an impact beyond.”
