Who we are
Why we are here
Welcome to Heartlink and our website!
Have a look round the site to get full details of what we do and our many activities
You can find help and advice about heart disease by clicking the link HERE.
We want you to join us, whether you need help yourself, want to help others or just want to get involved.
Heartlink is a local charity led by heart patients, for heart patients and their families. Based in Southall, Greenford, Hanwell, Ealing, and West London, we provide support and advice to those living with heart conditions, especially those undergoing or recovering from hospital treatment.
While clinical staff focus on medical care, Heartlink offers something equally vital, personal understanding and guidance from those who’ve been through the same journey.
We are deeply committed to raising awareness about heart disease risk factors within the community. By hosting educational workshops, health awareness events, and outreach campaigns, we help individuals identify and address common risks such as high blood pressure, poor diet, smoking, and lack of exercise.
Our goal is to empower people with the knowledge they need to make healthier choices and reduce their chances of developing heart-related conditions.
. Our website is 'heartlink.charity'.
See the 'About us' section for fuller details of us and what we do.
Blood pressure and BMI checks at the Heartlink Community Hub
50 Heartlink members and supporters benefited from the offer of blood pressure and BMI checks at our Community Hub session on the 15th May at Greenford Park Community Hall, on Queens Ave. Greenford.
The checks were provided by a team of young pharmacists from nearby Southall Pharmacy. People had tea, coffee, fruit and snacks while waiting for their turn. Everyone was given copies of their results and, in some cases, arrangements were made for people to have follow up checks the next day at the pharmacy itself, followed by referrals to their own GP where this was required.
We wish to extend our huge thanks to Anish and the pharmacy team from Southall Pharmacy located at 13, North Parade, Southall, who provided this service to Heartlink and its members on a voluntary basis, free of charge. They regularly go the extra mile to provide proactive health care to the local community.
The checks followed our normal excellent chair yoga session led by the ever-popular Mr Chana.
Heartlink & Cardiac Research
At the beginning of May, Heartlink members and supporters gathered at Ealing Hospital to hear about developments in cardiac research and to learn about opportunities to get involved themselves. They heard a presentation from Emma Howard and Reinette Hampson from the Northwick Park Research Cardiac Research Charity, which is located at Northwick Park Hospital, part of our local Hospital Trust. The Director of Cardiac Research is Consultant Cardiologist Professor Roxy Senior.
Over the last year, 684 local heart patients have taken part in over 20 studies at the Northwick Park Research Centre, covering areas such as coronary artery disease, heart failure and heart attacks, and including investigations into heart medicines, tests and treatments. As examples of their work in recent years, they told us about their involvement in trials of medicines that have many of us has used, such as Apixaban blood thinner. Many of their studies are particularly aimed at treatments for conditions which affect high numbers in our local, diverse communities.
One area of their work is to help educate local NHS staff who regularly carry out stress echocardiography, known to us as ‘stress echo tests’ so that they can achieve better diagnoses for patients.
They finished the presentation with an invitation to Heartlink members to sign up to be checked for adding to a list of volunteers who can be invited to take part in future studies. There were many takers.
After a lively question & answer session the presenters stayed behind to discuss queries with individual members.
Please see their presentation below.
