The Chancellor should have helped those with osteoporosis: RUTH SUNDERLAND

The things a chancellor chooses to leave out of a budget or autumn statement are just as important as what is included.

The omissions are telling stories: they reveal what and who the resident of number 11 thinks he can ignore or abandon.

In this autumn statement, this category includes millions of Britons, most of them women, whose health is being needlessly put at risk.

For a relatively small expenditure, the Chancellor could have prevented the lives of a large number of people from being destroyed by osteoporosis, a bone disease that causes fractures, disability and premature death – at enormous cost not only to these individuals but also to the economy.

Three and a half million people in Britain are thought to have osteoporosis and fractures cost the economy £4.5 billion in treatments and cause lost productivity. So it makes sense to take this seriously.

The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), whose work has been championed by Queen Camilla for many years, had high hopes that Jeremy Hunt would feature in the autumn statement, following a series of promises from ministers.

Those hopes have been dashed – at least for now. I do not want to attack the Chancellor, who faced a thankless task on Wednesday.

But I would urge him to think carefully about his spring budget. The wallet cords are tight.

The main things on his mind are the overarching problems facing the economy: low growth, high inflation and a stubbornly high tax burden. Perhaps this seemed unimportant in the grand scheme.

This is not a niche problem, but one that threatens to become a major and costly public health crisis.

It should be a key part of the Chancellor’s big agenda to reduce the rising number of British and older Britons who are not working because they have long-term illness.

Fractures, broken hips, shoulders and spinal injuries caused by osteoporosis are the fourth biggest cause of premature death and disability in Britain.

But because it mainly affects women – and older women in particular – it is often brushed aside.

Campaigners believed that ministers would announce funding for the Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) in the autumn statement, to the tune of £27 million.

This is small change in the context of the national treasury, but it could save millions of women – and a great number of men – from the misery of broken limbs and crumbling spines.

The ‘savings’ achieved by breaking the promise is an illusion. The ROS states that £88 million will be wasted over the next year on fractures that could have been prevented.

FLS is a little-known but highly effective way to detect and diagnose people with osteoporosis early so they can receive treatment and hopefully avoid the worst of the devastation.

When patients at risk of osteoporosis appear in hospital with a fracture, the FLS arranges a bone scan and, if necessary, treatment and advice.

I have personal experience with this. I was referred to the brilliant FLS at St Thomas’ Hospital in London after breaking my shoulder after tripping while training for a half marathon.

As a fit, working-age woman at the height of her career, I never imagined I would be struck by a condition I associated with very weak, little old ladies.

The terrible shock and fear of the diagnosis is offset to some extent by the chance that, with the right treatment, it won’t have to ruin my life.

I hope I can benefit from an exciting new drug, Romosozumab, recently approved in England, which repairs bone and halts further deterioration.

In that respect I was one of the lucky ones. Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of the leading hospitals in this country. But FLS is only part of half of NHS Trusts, so it’s a postcode lottery.

The RoS believes that as a result, around 90,000 Britons are deprived of life-saving medicines every year.

They suffer painful fractures, sometimes several times, before being offered safe and effective therapies.

In addition to the terrible human toll that individuals and their families have to pay, fractures are expensive for the NHS and for employers.

One myth about osteoporosis is that it only affects very old women. It’s not just your grandma’s problem; it also affects many midlifers, of both sexes.

More than 80,000 working-age people suffer from osteoporosis fractures every year and a third of these have to leave their jobs due to pain and disability.

Employers are now developing policies to help women with menopause, which has been linked to osteoporosis, but bone health plays a much less prominent role than other aspects.

Hunt missed an opportunity to incorporate this into his mission to reduce the growing number of economically inactive working-age people.

As the Chancellor emphasized, the economy is hampered by the number of sick workers.

Hunt has recommended ‘mid-life MOTs’ and other measures to help them get back into work.

Supporting the FLS is right in that zone. It could prevent up to 74,000 fractures over the next five years, including 31,000 life-threatening fractures.

It could also free up 750,000 hospital bed days, allowing people suffering from other conditions to receive treatment and, if they are of working age, return to work.

So come on Chancellor – please do the right thing in the spring.