Gifts in Wills
Will you remember Royal Papworth Hospital in your Will? You could change the lives of heart and lung patients across the world and find a cure with your lasting legacy.
Around 7.6 million people are currently living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK – and an ageing and growing population could see the figure rise by a million by 2030. Heart and circulatory diseases cause around a quarter of all deaths in the UK; that’s more than 170,000 deaths a year, or 480 each day – one every three minutes. Around 49,000 of those deaths are people under the age of 75. Together heart and lung account for some of the top five causes of death worldwide and it is vital we fund research to end the heartbreak caused by these illnesses.
Nearly half our income comes from Gifts in Wills; they are a vital source of funds that enable us to transform the lives of our patients. Knowing that our supporters have included a gift in their Will ensures that we can continue to grow to deliver life-changing projects, now and for many years to come.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have already funded numerous research projects which are not only transforming the lives of Royal Papworth patients, but transforming the lives of patients across the globe.
Project Breathe
Royal Papworth Hospital is proud to be home of Project Breathe, a first of its kind trial, that has a wide range of benefits for a patient with Cystic Fibrosis. It has the potential to change the way patients with CF manage their care, using equipment and monitoring software to take control of the condition outside of hospital. They can safely avoid routine appointments at their CF centre if their health is stable, reducing the risk of cross infection that comes with visiting hospital, ultimately minimising disruption in their lives.
DCD Transplant
In response to the worldwide shortage of donor hearts, the DCD transplantation technique was developed by Royal Papworth Hospital with funding from the Charity. This innovative technique has enabled surgeons at Royal Papworth Hospital to utilise donor hearts which were previously considered too damaged to transplant, leading to an increase the number of people receiving a heart transplant at Royal Papworth Hospital by almost 50% over the last five years.
The technique has now been developed in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital to provide DCD heart transplants for eligible children leading to six paediatric heart transplants in 2020. The teams at RPH and GOSH are working together to develop a new machine that will enable DCD heart donation from even smaller infants, opening up a new dawn of transplantation for babies and young children, where donors are the most scarce.
Heart and Lung Research Institute
Royal Papworth Charity contributed over £5 million to the development of the Heart and Lung Research Institute (HLRI), over a third of this came from gifts in Wills. The Heart and Lung Research Institute will transform the way that heart and lung disease is treated globally and give Royal Papworth patients access to cutting-edge medicine.
As a joint venture between Royal Papworth Hospital and the University of Cambridge, the HLRI research teams aim to demonstrate proof of concept by developing 10 new drugs or diagnoses in heart and lung disease over the next five years.
Research will focus on conditions such as the causes of heart attacks, acute lung injury and repair, cystic fibrosis, atrial fibrillation, and pulmonary hypertension. We will continue to fund the research taking place at the Institute over the next five years to ensure our patients have access to the world’s best treatment.
Our free Will writing service
We are excited to announce our partnership with Octopus Legacy who will offer a free Will writing service for our patients and supporters. There is no obligation to leave a gift to Royal Papworth Hospital, but if you do, please know that you will help to save many more lives.
Start creating my will online
Octopus Legacy also offers telephone and face to face Will writing services, to find out more and to book an appointment simply call the team on 0800 773 4014.