Central to the major campaign by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Guidelines (NICE) to reduce deaths from VTE is the advocacy of the use of anti-embolism stockings. It is estimated that 25,000 people die from preventable hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (VTE) every year in the UK (The House of Commons Health Committee Report, 2005). If it does not kill, then symptomatic VTE and related long-term morbidities cost to the health