‘Solve bones crisis if you want to cut waiting lists’
RISHI Sunak cannot meet his goal of bringing down NHS waiting times unless he tackles Britain’s broken bones crisis, he has been warned.
The Prime Minister has made cutting the backlog one of his five top priorities for this year.
But the Royal Osteoporosis Society is warning this will be “impossible” without much-needed action because fractures are the “second highest driver of emergency bed occupancy”.
The charity says 90,000 people are missing out on vital drugs and warns hundreds of patients will die unnecessarily in the coming months as a result of hip fractures.
Chief executive Craig Jones expects that over the next six months the nation will see “800 deaths due to hip fractures which could have been prevented” if world-class “fracture liaison services” were in place.
He said: “It puts us to shame that people are missing out on osteopoaccess rosis drugs because our NHS has so far fallen behind on these services.
“Without action, it’ll be impossible for the PM to deliver on his pledge to cut waiting lists.
“We need a bold Government mandate that everyone over 50 in England should be covered by FLS, just like they have in Wales. Every day we delay, we’ll see more broken lives due to fractures.”
The ROS is concerned by mixed messages at the heart of government.
It has seen a letter from Health Secretary Steve Barclay to Mr Sunak in which he states “NHS England has prioritised FLS as a key part of its elective recovery plan”.
A second letter from health ministerwill
Quince to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also claims NHS England is “prioritising FLS”.
But NHS England’s plan for tackling the post-covid backlog makes no mention of fracture services or osteoporosis.
The Sunday Express has launched the Better Bones campaign in collaboration with the ROS, calling for concrete action to save and transform lives.
We want clear commitments to £30million in additional investment each year and for everyone aged over 50 to have to quality services. We are also calling for the appointment of a national clinical director to “lead the change” across each of the home nations.
Experts believe Government action now would save 8,000 lives over five years and cut NHS spending by £665million.
The ROS’S call for better services is being echoed by Caroline Abrahams of Age UK.
She said: “Bone fractures and breaks, often due to osteoporosis, blight many older people’s lives, undermining their confidence, mobility and independence.
“This is why it is so important that everyone has speedy access to an effective fracture liaison service.
“About half of all women and one in five men over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis.
“We strongly support the call to improve FLS, which will ultimately help bring down NHS waiting lists and give older people who do experience a break a much greater chance of making a full recovery, even a new lease of life.”