Campaigners say Wes Streeting has the chance to save lives and avoid needless suffering (Image: Getty)
Health Secretary West Streeting has been urged to end a “deadly postcode lottery” and publish an action plan to ensure osteoporosis is identified at the earliest possible date. Campaigners insist people are dying unnecessarily because in swathes of the country basic checks for the disease are not carried out when people aged over 50 show up at A&E with their first fracture.
The Sunday Express has campaigned for “fracture liaison services” (FLS) to be rolled out across the nation – a goal backed by Labour before the election – but there is alarm at the lack of progress. There was relief when the services were mentioned in the NHS 10-year-plan, launched on Thursday by Mr Streeting, but he is now facing calls to publish an action plan and a start date.
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Only 51% of NHS trusts in England have an FLS despite osteoporosis causing 500,000 broken bones every year in the UK at a cost of more than ￡4.5billion to the economy and NHS.
Shadow Health Secretary Edward Argar said: “If the Conservatives had won the last election, we’d have already been getting on with delivering the roll out of FLS across the country. I’m calling on the Health Secretary today to make the words of the 10-year plan for the NHS, and his previous FLS promise, a reality now.
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“The Royal Osteoporosis Society, and the Express, and most importantly individual campaigners, have done so much to get FLS to the top of the agenda – Wes Streeting owes it to them to start delivering on this pledge right away with no more delays.”
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Craig Jones, chief executive of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, pressed the Health Secretary to act, saying: “This 10-year plan charts a course for the NHS that can lead it through recovery and into renewal. To see the national roll-out of fracture liaison services embedded in the plan is very welcome, as they’re a classic example of the shifts Wes Streeting wants to drive.
“The sooner we have an implementation plan, the sooner we can change lives at scale, while reducing the enormous pressures fractures put on hospitals. We hope ministers will now release that plan over the coming months, as delay costs lives. We look forward to working with them on it.”
The charity expects one in two women and one in five men over 50 to break a bone as a result of osteoporosis. It says businesses lose approximately 1.5million work days every year as a result of “osteoporotic fractures”.
Former Tory pensions minister Baroness Altmann said it was “disappointing” there is “no clear timetable for action,” adding: “Wales has already acted, and I do hope Ministers will urgently act to roll out FLS services across England too, to pre-empt preventable harm. Every year of delay will mean 2,500 more people die needlessly after hip fractures that could have been avoided.
“The Government now needs to honour its promises to help stop these avoidable tragedies.”
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Labour’s Baroness Hayter said: “The Secretary of State’s personal commitment to rolling out fracture liaison services by 2030 has been clear, and I welcome their mention in the 10-year plan and look forward to seeing the all-important detail on how they will be delivered. These services save lives, reduce hospital admissions and support healthy ageing. Patients, clinicians, and particularly women – who are disproportionately affected by osteoporosis - need certainty.”
Conservative peer Lord Black of Brentwood, who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Osteoporosis and Bone Health, was encouraged by the inclusion of the services in the plan but said there is a “lack of clarity” on how the commitment will be delivered.
He said: “These services are proven to work — they save lives, reduce long-term costs and support healthy ageing. I urge the Health Secretary to set out a clear timetable so we can move from commitment to real implementation.”
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting: We'll end the postcode lottery
Health Secretary Wes Streeting (Image: House of Commons / PA)
“Our Ten Year Health Plan committed to ending the postcode lottery and rolling out fracture liaison services up and down the country by 2030.
“Patients with osteoporosis will benefit from the more than 200 neighbourhood centres we’re introducing as part of the plan. These will bring diagnostics, mental health, rehab and nursing all together under one roof, closer to home.
“We’re also making life easier by transforming the NHS App so people can directly access the community services they need without having to go through their GP first.
“And I’m particularly pleased with our investment in 13 high-tech DEXA scanners, which are expected to provide an extra 29,000 scans to help make sure bone conditions get spotted earlier.
“Taken together, the measures in our plan will be transformational for osteoporosis patients, getting them diagnosed earlier, with faster, more preventative care.”
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