UK vascular surgeons believe they could reduce number of patients undergoing leg amputation and detect heart disease earlier if diagnosis and treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease (a hardening or blockage of arteries in the legs) were given higher priority by the NHS and there was better public awareness

The first tripartite meeting of the Vascular Society, BSIR and BSET will take place at Walton Hall, Warwickshire.  For registration and abstract information, please click here.

We are pleased to report that the Vascular Society has been successful in obtaining a grant of £380,000 from the Health Foundation to help us achieve our ambition of reducing the mortality associated with aortic aneurysm surgery to 3.5% by 2013. This is an exciting development for the Vascular Society and represents a major advance in our role from simply auditing outcomes of our interventions to making a real improvement in these outcomes by encouraging improvements in care. November 2009.

Clinicians face significant changes in their clinical practice over the next few years, with the emphasis being on our ability to demonstrate both good team working and a focus on patient safety. In addition the introduction of a national screening programme for aortic aneurysms will see a focus on providing a high quality service for patients. The NVD will play a central role in both these areas and the Society is committed to providing robust information to support its members in their clinical practice. This written report represents the first one incorporating data from the new system, and the first to be produced by the VSGBI.