Women’s Health Strategy

Baroness Verma Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

My Lords, on osteoporosis and post-menopause in particular, we could save a lot of money in the health service if interventions came in earlier. I am very concerned that we do not talk enough about this, and we certainly are not looking particularly at lower-income households and women, especially from minority communities, who do not always have diets that enable their bone health to be good. Will the Minister tell us what she is doing there?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I would be pleased to. This is an important point because MSK conditions disproportionately affect women. We are investing in diagnosis, and this financial year we are funding 21 new DEXA scanners in priority locations. That will mean some 60,000 scans per year, so we will be upping the game in that respect. On the noble Baroness’s important point, we aim to use polygenic risk scores to identify those at higher risk. It is about being proactive, not reactive. A study by Our Future Health, which is currently focused on cardiovascular disease, will be expanded to osteoporosis and dementia in the future. As your Lordships’ House knows, we will roll out fracture liaison services in every part of the country, and we have set an expectation for ICBs to roll out community service models in line with the 10-year plan.