Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the direct effect of drug eluting stents on the reduction of lower limb amputations.

Vascular services manage the treatment and care of patients with diseases related to disorders of the arteries, veins and lymphatic system. These can be managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. NHS England commissions these services as part of its specialised commissioning portfolio.

The vascular disease specialised commissioning clinical reference group has prepared a service specification for specialised vascular services. This aims to ensure that services deliver improved patient experience, provide equality of access to the full range of vascular diagnostics and interventions, and ensue that patients are receiving a high quality of service, with access to the most modern techniques.

Implementation of the service specification for specialised vascular services through the local service review processes is designed to reduce regional variation.

The service specification can be found at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a04-spec-vascu-adult.pdf

The Government has made no assessment of the effects of drug eluting stents on lower limb amputation rates.