Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps have been taken to address rates of major lower limb amputations in the Hull CCG area; and if he will make a statement.

The Diabetes Transformation programme has a project in progress across the four Humber clinical commissioning groups in respect of Multi-Disciplinary Team Footcare which aims to reduce lower limb amputations. This team has provided all general practitioner practices with information to support them in maintaining their skills on how to effectively assess the feet of a patient with diabetes, in order to identify early signs of disease.

It is important to remember that vascular disease is also associated with amputation, and the most significant risk factor for that condition is smoking. Work is progressing as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan to make the National Health Service smoke-free and to routinely offer all patients who smoke access to smoking cessation services.