The Queen presents Sunday Express Editor David Wooding with the certificate (Image: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)
Her Majesty applauded our Better Bones campaign and presented us with a special award for helping to put the devastating condition “on the map”.
At a special event in Clarence House, she described how her own mother, Rosalind Shand, died in the grip of osteoporosis.
Queen Camilla is President of the Royal Osteoporosis Society which campaigned alongside the Sunday Express for simple but life-saving measures to detect and treat the disease to be rolled out across the country.
And as a result, the Government has pledged to end the postcode lottery for diagnosis and treatment.
The Queen told a small gathering of campaigners and volunteers: “A huge thanks to the Sunday Express… It really has put osteoporosis on the map.
“All I can say is I just plead with you to keep going because people do read it and they do listen and it makes an enormous difference to a lot of people who would otherwise go undiagnosed.”
She told how her mother “died because it was never diagnosed in those days and old people were just cast aside”.
She said there was then an attitude of “Sorry, we can’t do anything about it”.
Queen Camilla with award recipients during the reception (Image: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)
The Queen added: “Had she lived nowadays, a lot would have been done about it. It’s thanks to everybody here that so much is being done for osteoporosis and I can’t tell you how much it is appreciated, not only by myself but by millions of others across the world. So thank you very much indeed.” Sunday Express editor David Wooding was awarded a “special certificate of appreciation” in acknowledgement of our Better Bones crusade, which has been shortlisted for Campaign of the Year by the Society of Editors.
Our hard-fought battle won commitments from all the major parties ahead of the election to roll out “fracture liaison services” across England to stop the disease going undetected with catastrophic results.
Craig Jones, chief executive of the ROS, said these “crucial” services were “only available in half of trusts and 90,000 people every year were missing out on medication, causing a revolving door of fracture patients in hospitals”. The new services are expected to prevent 74,000 breaks over five years.
Mr Jones said the Better Bones crusade inspired change “at the highest level of politics”. He said it was both the “first ever newspaper campaign on osteoporosis” and the “longest running successful newspaper campaign on record”.
The Sunday Express, he said, was “motivated by the missed opportunities to give people with osteoporosis an early diagnosis – and wanted to fight their corner”.
Mr Jones said the national attention the Sunday Express focused on the issue was “absolutely groundbreaking for our cause”.
Queen Camilla with Sunday Express Editor David Wooding (Image: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)
The roll-out of the new services should prevent 31,000 potentially life-threatening hip fractures.
“Since over a quarter of people who break their hip die in the year following, we expect 8,000 lives to be saved over the same period as a result of this cross-party commitment,” Mr Jones said.
He added: “David and his team have been stalwarts for what used to be a neglected and underrepresented cause – until now, when his efforts have transformed the level of scrutiny and attention given to changing and improving the lives of people affected by this condition”.
Mr Jones praised the Queen for her work as “one of the most high-profile advocates in the world for beating osteoporosis”.
“We’re proud to be a cause so close to her heart,” he said. “By channelling the painful experience of her own mother’s osteoporosis, she has helped ensure millions of people can live well and, importantly, encouraged younger audiences to become more aware of their bone health.”
Those attending the special event at Clarence House included Emmy award-winning actress Susan Hampshire, famed for her role in the 1967 production of The Forsyte Saga. She is a celebrity ambassador for the Royal Osteoporosis Society and has described her own experiences with the disease.