Labor pledges to give people suffering from brittle bone disease access to vital scans in victory for Mail on Sunday’s War On Osteoporosis campaign

Health
By Liam

By Anna Mikhailova

Published: | Updated:

Labor will ensure people at risk of brittle bone disease can access vital scans that can identify the condition early, a win for The Mail on Sunday’s War On Osteoporosis campaign.

Research shows that allowing patients to access specialist osteoporosis care saves lives, prevents life-changing injuries and reduces NHS spending.

Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) identifies people over the age of 50 who arrive at the emergency department with broken bones and screens them for fragility fractures.

Screening is currently offered in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with Wales expanding this this year – but it is only available in around half of England’s NHS Trusts.

Following a MoS campaign to extend FLSs to all hospitals, the Conservatives, Labor and Liberal Democrats have all committed to fully funding the screening project.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) has now told this newspaper that he remains committed to the rollout of FLSs in every hospital in Britain

Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) identifies people over 50 years of age who arrive at the Emergency Department with broken bones and screens them for fragility fractures (Stock Image)

Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) identifies people over 50 years of age who arrive at the Emergency Department with broken bones and screens them for fragility fractures (Stock Image)

Although this appeared in the Tory and Lib Dem manifestos, it was not in Labour’s.

But Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has now told this newspaper that he remains committed to the rollout of FLSs in every hospital in Britain.

“We will expand the use of FLSs to every region in England and achieve full coverage by 2030,” Streeting said.

‘We will ensure patients are seen for scans more quickly, making an additional 15,000 patients available each year to help tackle the Tories’ backlog.’

But the Tories criticized Labor for leaving the pledge out of the party manifesto.

“We have fully funded the plans for our NHS, including an explicit commitment in our manifesto to expand the use of FLSs in England to 100 per cent coverage by 2030,” said Health Secretary Victoria Atkins.

‘Labour have talked a lot about this in recent weeks, including promises to Mail on Sunday readers, but lo and behold, their manifesto makes no mention of FLSs whatsoever.

“We have fully funded plans for our NHS, including an explicit commitment in our manifesto to expand the use of FLSs in England to 100 percent coverage by 2030,” said Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (pictured)

“We have fully funded plans for our NHS, including an explicit commitment in our manifesto to expand the use of FLSs in England to 100 percent coverage by 2030,” said Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (pictured)

‘Voters should see this as yet another warning that Labor has no plan and cannot be trusted to deliver on its promises.’

Around 3.5 million people in Britain have osteoporosis, which causes 500,000 fractures every year. This costs the NHS £4.5 billion in expenditure and lost productivity.

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break.

It develops slowly over several years and is often not diagnosed until a minor fall or sudden impact causes a bone fracture.

The most common injuries in people with osteoporosis are wrist, hip and vertebral fractures.

However, they can also occur in other bones, such as the arm or pelvis.

Sometimes coughing or sneezing can cause a rib fracture or partial collapse of one of the bones of the spine.

Osteoporosis is usually not painful until a fracture occurs, but vertebral fractures are a common cause of long-term pain.

Figures suggest that 54 million people in the US suffer from the condition, while in Britain 3 million are believed to suffer.

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