Health & Wellbeing Community & Social Justice 2025
British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25

The British Heart Foundation is the UK's biggest non-commercial funder of cardiovascular research, with over £460m of research in progress. In 2024-25, £108.4m in new research grants was awarded across 717 active grants at 47 institutions involving 1,220 researchers; 311,000 people were trained in CPR through RevivR; 106,000 defibrillators are now registered on The Circuit; and 37 million health content views were recorded. Total income was £181m. BHF-funded research has helped nearly halve cardiovascular deaths over 50 years. A new strategy was launched to harness AI, genomics and regenerative medicine.

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📋About

Research grants (discovery, clinical, AI, genomics, regenerative medicine); CureHeart project (inherited heart conditions); RevivR CPR training platform; The Circuit national defibrillator network; Heart Helpline; BHF website health information; British Heart Foundation shops (retail); fundraising events; Heart Hero Awards; Reflections of Research competition; Women in Science programme; EDI workforce assessment

📊Key Metrics

£108.4m in new research grants awarded; 717 active grants; 1,220 researchers including PhD students across 47 institutions; over £460m of BHF-funded research in progress Key Metric 1
311,000 people trained in CPR through RevivR (cumulative to 31 March 2025); 106,000 defibrillators registered on The Circuit; 20% increase in Heart Helpline contacts Key Metric 2
37 million views of BHF health content; 33,314 pieces of news coverage; total income £181m; 72p in every £1 raised available for charitable purposes Key Metric 3

✅Key Outcomes

  • SCOT-HEART trial 10-year follow-up: CCTA scans associated with 28% fewer non-fatal heart attacks — equating to approximately 6,000 heart attacks avoided; AI tool predicts type 2 diabetes risk up to 10 years in advance from routine ECG scans; OPTIMAS study: early blood-thinning as safe as delayed treatment for stroke patients — could benefit up to 20,000 patients per year
  • First BHF Professor of Cardiovascular Artificial Intelligence appointed (Prof Declan O'Regan, Imperial); MRC/BHF Centre of Research Excellence in Advanced Cardiac Therapies launched; AI-enabled intelligent t-shirt to detect lethal heart rhythms in development; FIND-HF machine learning tool predicts heart failure risk from GP records
  • New strategy launched: three goals — stop heart disease before it starts, save more lives, support everyone with heart disease; retail net profit fell to £3.6m (from £18.8m in 2024) reflecting cost pressures; legacy income rose to £108.4m; fundraising income £58.2m; £3m joint fund for cardiovascular research in Wales with Health and Care Research Wales

📍Geography

UK-Wide

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