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Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland

Registered charity number SC018761

On JustGiving since Nov 2002

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About Chest, Heart & Stroke Association Scotland

Every day in Scotland, 42 people will have a stroke for the first time and 46 people will die from heart disease. That’s one person approximately every 15 minutes.

An estimated 500,000 Scots live with heart disease and more than 70,000 Scots living in the community have had a stroke.

Scotland boasts one of the highest incidences of heart and stroke illnesses in the world. Heart and stroke diseases, along with cancer, form the 'Big 3' causes of death in Scotland. Coronary heart disease and stroke alone kill more than one Scot in three, more than all forms of cancer combined.

Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland aims to improve the quality of life for people in Scotland affected by chest, heart and stroke illness, through medical research, advice and information, and support in the community.

It achieves this in a number of ways including: -

  • Research into all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chest, heart and stroke illnesses.
  • Advice and information to patients, carers and health professionals.
  • The Volunteer Stroke Service (VSS), providing care in the community for stroke patients.
  • Support groups for chest, heart and stroke patients and their families.
  • Welfare grants for families in financial difficulty due to illness.

Health Promotion

CHSS nurses offer support to those affected by chest, heart and stroke conditions, by providing confidential independent advice to individuals throughout Scotland. The charity operates a special Lo'call advice line on 0845 077 6000. It helps stroke patients and their families adjust from hospital to home and can provide an exercise and education programme for those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Volunteer Stroke Service

Our volunteer stroke service (VSS) helps people who have had a stroke and have speech and communication problems. It provides weekly group meetings and home visits helping people to attain maximum recovery and become as independent as possible. There are more than 60 VSS groups in Scotland, expanding every year.

Support Groups

CHSS supports chest, heart and stroke groups for chest, heart and stroke patients throughout Scotland and can provide information and local contacts.

Information

The charity produces an extensive range of leaflets, booklets, videos, tapes and newsletters which help, advise and inform patients and carers on all aspects of chest, heart and stroke illnesses. (Some of these publications are produced in 'partnership' with the Stroke Association).

In association with the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS), the charity introduced a new video pack called "Stroke Matters". This contains two videos and accompanying booklets to be used in stroke units by health professions. The videos contain testimonies from stroke patients and their carers about their experiences and feelings when they had their stroke and about their recovery.

CHSS also produces information on local chest, heart and stroke clubs throughout Scotland.

Research

CHSS funds vital medical research into every aspect of the treatment, diagnosis, prevalence and prevention of chest, heart and stroke illnesses. Its current programme is worth more than £500,000 a year, and is one of the largest charitably funded programmes in Scotland.

Welfare Grants

We also provide small grants to individuals and families, who are in financial difficulties as a result of chest, heart and stroke conditions. Grants totalling more than £150,000 a year are awarded to help people with clothing, bedding, household goods, telephone installation or specialist equipment.




Our history

Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland was founded in 1899, as the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (NAPT).

At the end of the nineteenth century, TB (or consumption) killed 70,000 people each year in Britain.

Through its efforts in health education, and the establishment of dispensaries and sanatoria, the NAPT helped reduce this death rate by more than 60 per cent by 1948.

The development, first of an effective TB vaccine (BCG) and then the "miracle drugs" which revolutionised treatment, brought the scourge of TB under control in the years after the Second World War.

The charity then turned its attention to other chest illnesses, heart disease and stroke, becoming the Chest and Heart Association in 1959, and Chest, Heart and Stroke Association in 1970.

CHSS became a fully independent Scottish charity in 1991, and is now one of Scotland's leading medical charities.

It has to raise around £3 million each year to support its activities throughout Scotland.

You can make a donation here.