The Circulation Foundation—the UK’s leading vascular charity—is calling on the UK Government to move swiftly from agreement to action following a landmark Westminster Hall debate on vascular health, in which members of parliament (MPs) united behind the need for urgent reform of vascular services.
The debate on 10 September 2026, secured by Jim Shannon, UK MP and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vascular and Venous Disease (VVAPPG), saw strong cross-party support for measures aimed at reducing preventable amputations, tackling unacceptable delays and ending the postcode lottery in vascular care.
The motion was agreed without opposition.
The debate coincided with the release of a new short film from the Circulation Foundation, ‘Peripheral artery disease: not just a walk in the park’.
The Government also made clear that its approach is “closely aligned” with the ambitions of the APPG, supporting action to reduce waiting times, reform commissioning around outcomes, accelerate innovation, establish a national foot-care pathway and strengthen community-based foot-protection services.
The Circulation Foundation believes that political consensus must now be matched by clear commitments, timescales and accountability.
Five reforms now need to become reality
The debate placed five key reforms firmly on the political agenda:
- A national Foot Attack pathway, ensuring people with urgent diabetic or vascular foot problems receive same-day or next-day specialist triage.
- Multidisciplinary community foot-protection services in every area, connected directly to specialist vascular centres.
- National vascular waiting-time standards, including the proposed five-day standard for urgent inpatient assessment and a two-week standard for outpatient assessment.
- Outcome-based commissioning, rewarding the UK National Health Service (NHS) for preventing amputations, healing wounds and improving patients’ health—not simply for delivering activity.
- Faster adoption of proven innovation, ensuring effective technologies, diagnostics and digital approaches are available to patients wherever they live.
A press release from the VVAPPG and Circulation Foundation notes that these reforms are needed against a backdrop of thousands of avoidable lower-limb amputations every year. MPs highlighted the devastating consequences of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI), and the need to identify and treat vascular disease earlier.
Government must now deliver
During the debate, Health Minister James Frith said the Government’s approach was closely aligned with the APPG’s ambitions and highlighted commitments around waiting times, community care, foot protection, innovation and outcomes-based commissioning.
He also stated that people requiring urgent wound assessment—including those with suspected infection, rapid deterioration or a diabetic foot ulcer—should be seen within 24 hours.
The key question is now how quickly these commitments will translate into consistent care for patients across England.
The Westminster Hall debate did not itself create new statutory waiting-time standards, nor did it set firm implementation dates for all five reforms.
A rare moment of cross-party consensus
The debate saw strong support from MPs across the political spectrum.
Shannon, who secured the debate, highlighted the scale of preventable harm caused by vascular disease and the urgent need for reform.
Zubir Ahmed, Labour MP and former vascular surgeon, backed the national Foot Attack pathway and highlighted vascular and diabetic-foot services as an opportunity to move NHS commissioning towards paying for outcomes rather than activity.
Helen Morgan, MP and Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, highlighted fragmentation, deprivation and the postcode lottery in access to care, alongside the importance of continuity for people living with vascular disease.
Neil Shastri-Hurst, MP, Conservative shadow health minister and a physician, broadly supported the APPG’s proposals while challenging the Government to provide greater specificity about implementation, national waiting-time standards, clinical leadership and the protection of vascular services during NHS reforms.
From Westminster to every vascular service in England
The Circulation Foundation believes the test of the Government’s position will now be whether patients see a measurable improvement in care.
That means monitoring:
- how quickly patients with suspected limb-threatening ischaemia are assessed;
- whether people with diabetic foot emergencies receive rapid specialist assessment;
- waiting times from referral to vascular assessment and treatment;
- access to multidisciplinary foot-protection services;
- rates of major and minor amputations;
- wound-healing outcomes; and
- variation in outcomes between different parts of the country.
The Foundation is calling on the Government to publish clear, measurable vascular standards and a delivery timetable, and to ensure that vascular disease has appropriate national clinical leadership as NHS structures change.
