The charity, Medical Detection Dogs, trains dogs to save the lives of people with Postural orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, by giving them an alert a few minutes before they’re about to have a potentially life-threatening medical episode. They also restore their lives by giving them back their confidence and independence and offer reassurance to their friends and families that they’re in safe paws.

Did you know......

PoTS stands for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.

PoTS is usually an abnormal response by the autonomic nervous system to upright posture

The average time it takes to diagnose PoTS is almost 6 years

PoTS can occur at any age but the most common age for PoTS to develop is in young adulthood

50% of PoTS patients are unable to attend work or school PoTS is not rare – it affects 0.2% of the population. Yet many healthcare professionals are not aware of the condition

Over 90% of patients will respond to treatment, thus heightening the tragedy of delays in diagnosis and treatment. As it affects so many body systems, a multidisciplinary approach is recommended, but there is no such service available in the NHS for UK patients.

A PoTS alert dog can save the NHS £79,172 including savings of costs and additional societal costs

MDD PoTS clients require an average 5.4 times fewer ambulance call-outs and A&E admissions with their dog have an 8.7 decrease in the number of minor episodes have a 5 fold decrease in the number of moderate episodes

32% of our dogs alert to PoTS (and some of those alert to other conditions too)

7 different breeds currently alert our clients to PoTS