Fracture Liaison Services

Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, the Conservative MP for Solihull West and Shirley, asked the Government what steps it is taking to ensure the provision of fracture liaison services in all hospitals. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Andrew Gwynne, responded by acknowledging the significant impact of osteoporosis and fragility fractures, and praised the campaigns by various media outlets and the Royal Osteoporosis Society on this issue. Gwynne reiterated the Government's commitment to expanding access to fracture liaison services, stating that the Department is working closely with NHS England to develop plans to ensure better quality and access to these preventive services. In a follow-up, Dr Shastri-Hurst, a former orthopaedic surgeon, highlighted that more than 67,000 people suffer a fracture every year in England, disproportionately affecting women. He noted that fracture liaison services, when delivered well, can prevent many of these fractures, and that currently, only half of the country has access to such services. The previous Conservative government had made a commitment to roll out these services to the whole country by 2030, and Dr Shastri-Hurst asked the Minister if he would honour that commitment. In response, Andrew Gwynne acknowledged the importance of improving these services in specific parts of the country, but stated that the Government would not be pursuing the health rationing and treatment cuts that the MP had previously written about in "ConservativeHome".