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)
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)
‘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.