Thanks to partner charities Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and Tiny Tickers, sonographers at Airedale General Hospital have received vital training to detect the signs of congenital heart disease in the youngest of patients.

And it’s thanks to CHSF’s supporters and their life-saving donations, that CHSF awarded the grant of £17K to Tiny Tickers to fund vital fetal cardiac sonography training across the Yorkshire region.

Tiny Tickers work with sonographers across the UK to improve the early detection and care of babies with serious heart conditions.

And sonographers at Airedale received their life-saving training from Tiny Tickers last week.

CHSF have supported the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit (LCHU) since 1988 with life-saving medical equipment, accommodation for parents and ward facilities. The LCHU is the biggest Heart Unit in the region and receives patient referrals with congenital heart disease from all Yorkshire hospitals and clinics, including the Airedale.

Further Sonography training sessions are planned across other key Yorkshire hospitals into next year.

Timely detection of congenital heart disease has been shown to make a huge difference, and the partnership will improve the chances of survival and long-term quality of life for hundreds of babies.

The training covers the most up-to-date NHS recommendations on what sonographers should look for when examining the heart as part of the 20-week scan.

This specialist fetal cardiac training enhances the confidence and skills sonographers need to detect heart defects during pregnancy scans.

The two charities worked together on a similar project in 2016 resulting in training for 226 sonographers, and another great result is expected this time around.

Anne Rhodes, the Head of Training of Tiny Tickers said:

It is an absolute pleasure to be able to work together again with Children’s Heart Surgery Fund to provide our sonographer training across Yorkshire.”

 

Our training is always very well received and recent studies have shown that the antenatal detection rate of CHD has increased due to regional training programmes such as this.

Sharon Milner, the CEO of CHSF added:

We must pay tribute to CHSF’s incredible supporters for helping us fund yet more life-saving training through Tiny Tickers for sonographers in our region.

 

It is clear that spotting a heart defect early can greatly improve a baby’s chances of survival and long-term quality of life.

 

Thanks to public donations, this training will make a huge difference to future children with congenital heart disease and their families.

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