Fracture Liaison Services

Baroness Verma Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for allowing me to complete Second Reading today—I look forward to doing so—but I do not share her feeling that we will not be providing services. As I have said, the commitment is there. I should say that the department is working with NHS England to ensure that secondary fracture prevention remains a priority. We are doing this in several ways, including by ensuring that guidance is regularly reviewed and that we can improve data. I will be very pleased to share further details in due course.

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

My Lords, on prevention, as women get to the perimenopausal stage in life, our bones become a lot thinner. Would it not be helpful and useful, while the Government are rolling out other things, to do some public awareness on where women can get support and help in the meantime. That would of course be national and would not have to be rolled out.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes a good point, and we are now including menopause in the NHS health check for those over 40. That will be a very good place to do that, because it will identify where women should speak up. One in three women are likely to have osteoporosis, compared with one in five men.