Bone disease treatment delay will cost 1,400 lives, charity warns Chancellor

AROUND 1,400 women will die if Chancellor Jeremy Hunt fails to end the postcode lottery on a devastating bone disease that affects millions.

MPs, peers and top doctors are calling on Mr Hunt to provide £30million of funding for early detection of osteoporosis. Experts say the measure would pay for itself many times over.

Campaigners hoped he would stump up the cash in this month’s Budget to install Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) in every NHS trust in England and Wales. But Mr Hunt turned a deaf ear to pleas to roll it out across the UK. That will cost up to 1,400 lives, say experts at the Royal Osteoporosis Society charity.

Campaigners say his inaction will also result in £39million of wasted costs in the NHS and social care.

When a patient aged over 50 turns up at A&E with a broken bone, they are referred to an FLS if one is available, which will assess them for osteoporosis. Those with the disease can then be offered treatment.

Although FLS is available in all of the NHS trusts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, they are only in just over half of trusts in England and Wales. The Mail on Sunday’s War On Osteoporosis campaign is endorsed by the presidents of seven Medical Royal Colleges, 43 charities and by social networking sites Mumsnet and Gransnet. It is also backed by business organisations and trade unions.

A growing list of 270 politicians from the major parties also back us.

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett said the failure to fund FLS was a false economy because, without it, thousands of people would suffer agonising fractures before being diagnosed. ‘By doing nothing . . . Ministers have chosen the most expensive option,’ he added.

Craig Jones, chief executive of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, called on the Government to take urgent steps to fight the disease.