A British Heart Foundation campaign to fund new research into heart defects has raised £25m over the last four years, the charity announced today.

The Mending Broken Hearts Appeal was launched in 2011 with the aim of repairing damage caused by heart attacks and has led to “real hope” in helping the heart to repair itself, according to Peter Weissberg, medical director professor of BHF.

“We are getting ever closer to Mending Broken Hearts,” he said in a statement on the charity’s website on Sunday. “But we rely on the generous donations of our supporters to meet this urgent, unmet need.”

Funds raised over the past four years have been used at “world leading” Centres of Regenerative Medicine in Scotland, London, Oxford and Cambridge, according to Weissberg.

BHF’s latest accounts put its annual income at £275m. But it spent more than in earned for the past two years – by £37.7m for the year ending 2014 and £14.8m in 2013.

In April, a survey conducted by BHF revealed that 43 per cent of people intend to leave money to charity in their wills. The survey of 2,000 adults was carried out by BHF to mark the launch of a legacy giving campaign.

Someone has a heart attack every three minutes in the UK, according to the charity. Resulting heart failure can leave sufferers unable to climb stairs, wash themselves or carry out simple tasks.