NHS: Fracture Liaison Services Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Patel
Main Page: Lord Patel (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Patel's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(10 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Markham (Con)
I thank the noble Lord. His interventions around the communications side are always welcome, because we recognise that it is one thing having a service and another thing making sure that the world knows about it. I will go and find out more and write to the noble Lord.
Lord Patel (CB)
My Lords, the fracture liaison service originally started in Glasgow, with the particular intention of identifying mostly women who had a higher risk of fractures from osteoporosis. In England and Wales, a fracture liaison service audit has been established now for several years. How do the Government receive the learning from those audits and how do they implement the learning that they receive?
Lord Markham (Con)
The noble Lord is correct; there has been some good evidence gained. As I mentioned previously, it shows that the probability of suffering from a fracture if you have been in a clinic is 10%—some studies have shown as much as 30% to 40%. It also shows, as my noble friend Lord Black was saying, that there is actually a good cost saving: it is thought that £65 million per annum will give a return of more than £100 million. There are some very good statistics around this, and I assure noble Lords that we are making a strong case for their expansion.