Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to reduce the number of lower limb amputations; and if he will make a statement.

Service restoration guidance from the Vascular Society and the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme promotes early identification of critical limb ischaemia. GIRFT has also worked with hospitals to help reduce vascular-related lower limb amputation rates. NHS England also commissions the National Vascular Registry (NVR), with NVR data informing work to improve care for chronic limb-threatening ischaemia.

The proportion of hospitals offering access to multidisciplinary footcare teams has increased from 58 % in 2011 to 82 % in 2019, and major amputation rates in England are amongst the lowest internationally at 8.2 per year per 10,000 people with diabetes.

Ensuring improvements in foot care continues to deliver improvements in outcomes will be important going forward. Continued investment in multi-disciplinary footcare services by NHS England and NHS Improvement will drive access.