Help babies with serious heart conditions

We are thrilled to announce that our small charity has just reached another huge milestone. We have visited our 100th NHS hospital since 2016, to deliver specialist cardiac training, which helps sonographers detect heart defects in unborn babies.

From Telford to Torbay and Grimsby to Guernsey, we have trained sonographers at hospitals all over the UK. One third of serious heart defects go undetected before birth and it’s vital that we train and educate as many sonographers as possible. Early detection gives babies with congenital heart disease a better chance of survival and prepares their family for what lies ahead.

Our CEO, Jon Arnold, says, ‘We’re delighted to have reached the milestone of training in 100 NHS hospitals since the beginning of 2016. That work has seen us deliver expert cardiac screening training to more than 1,000 sonographers spread across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – training that has benefited babies with congenital heart disease. We’re dedicated to helping sonographers do the very difficult job of checking for heart defects, and we’re looking forward to continuing this vital work in dozens more hospitals throughout the UK in the coming months and years.’

The 100th hospital to take part in our training was the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. This forms part of our South West training project, where we have, so far, offered free training to sonographers at nine hospitals throughout the region.

Helen Liversedge, Associate Specialist Obstetric and Gynaecological Ultrasound at the hospital says, ‘This week, we are delighted to welcome Tiny Tickers to our Centre for Women’s Health at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Heart defects are the most common congenital birth problem and diagnosis before birth (usually at the 18-20+6 week anomaly scan) is important for parents and professionals to discuss and plan treatment options, sometimes resulting in a different place of delivery with an expert cardiac surgery team. National detection rates have been improving however it still remains difficult to detect some heart anomalies. At the Royal Devon and Exeter we have always tried to improve our standards and this involves continued training. To have additional expertise and training sessions with Tiny Tickers is an exciting opportunity to help continue enhance our detection rates and improve care and support for our parents and babies.’

Thanks to your support we are able to continue with our sonographer training programme throughout the UK. Thank you.