Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to address regional disparities in access to early diagnosis services for osteoporosis.

On 1 March, the Government announced funding for 20 new bone density, or DEXA, scanners across England, supported by £2.4 million of investment. Tens of thousands of patients will benefit from faster access to bone scans as a result. It will help ensure that people with bone conditions, such as osteoporosis, get diagnosed earlier.

Fracture Liaison Services are commissioned by integrated care boards, which are well-placed to make decisions according to local need. Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030. Officials continue to work closely with NHS England to explore a range of options to provide better quality and access to these important preventative services.

We are also working to deliver the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Delivery Programme. GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting lists, including for patients with osteoporosis, and to improve data and metrics and referral pathways to wider support services.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research has published a clinical knowledge summary on osteoporosis and the prevention of fragility fractures, which is designed to support healthcare professionals in the early diagnosis of osteoporosis, and which is available at the following link:

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/osteoporosis-prevention-of-fragility-fractures/

The Royal College of General Practitioners has an e-learning module for general practitioners on the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis, which was developed in collaboration with the Royal Osteoporosis Society, and which is available at the following link:

https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/info.php?id=233

The e-learning module supports the early diagnosis of osteoporosis by highlighting which groups are at higher risk of osteoporosis and fragility fractures. The module also discusses the monitoring of patients at risk of fragility fractures.