The main object of this the Heart Trust Fund is the financial support of the vitally important work of treating patients in the Medical Cardiology Centre of the Royal Victoria Hospital, and the equally important work of research into heart disease carried out there.
Throughout the years the charity has funded the adaptation of two parts of the hospital into research laboratories and the establishment of a new consultant post with the emphasis on cardiac research. It has also funded a wide variety of projects at the Hospital for the improvement of the treatments available to patients and important research projects.
Until Professor Frank Pantridge's retirement in 1982, he was the director of Medical Cardiology in the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast, which is the leading teaching hospital in the province and is known throughout the medical world for the high standards of its teaching and treatment of patients: it is, of course, a major part of the National Health Service in Northern Ireland.
Professor Pantridge recognised that while the funds necessary to maintain a hospital of the size and complexity of the Royal Victoria Hospital must come from the public purse, much valuable additional work – particularly in the field of research – can be done if private funds are available when, for a particular project, public funds are either not available or are insufficient.
The advancement and support of the Regional Medical Cardiology Centre (RMCC) at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, or such body as might succeed it.
Heart Trust Fund goes towards the financial support of the vitally important work of treating patients in the Medical Cardiology Centre of the Royal Victoria Hospital, and the equally important work of research into heart disease carried out there.