Wes Streeting has promised action on fractures but campaigners want him to pick up the pace (Image: Getty)
More than 1,100 people will have died from preventable broken hips since Health Secretary pledged to roll-out game-changing fracture services across England.
The Royal Osteoporosis Society warns that equivalent of two and a half large hospitals are filled with hip fracture patients every day of the year
It has found that 1,102 people who suffered hip fractures have passed away since Mr Streeting made the pre-election pledge in May to end a postcode lottery which means people across England miss out on the diagnosis of bone diseases which could threaten their lives.
In a typical year, 2,500 people die of preventable hip fractures, costing the country £2billion a year. Every day, around 4,170 people are in hospital with a hip fracture.
The charity warns that “over a quarter of hip fracture patients die within 12 months”.
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Today, only half of NHS trusts have “fracture liaison services” which routinely people who break a bone for an underlying condition with the aim of preventing “further devastating breaks”.
Craig Jones, chief executive of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, said: “Wes Streeting said the rollout plan for fracture liaison services would be one of his first acts in post. These figures show why honouring that pledge for speedy action is so crucial, with over 1,000 needless deaths since the promise was made.
“Those people can no longer be helped. And every day we delay the toll goes up. We plead with Mr Streeting to start work so lives can be saved.”
Antony Johansen, a consultant orthogeriatrician at the University Hospital of Wales, said: “Every year, I see 500 people with a hip fracture, and colleagues in other UK hospitals see another 80,000. Our duty of candour means that we should be apologising to half of them.
“They’ve had a previous fracture, but no one has done anything to strengthen their bones — so we’re sorry but this hip fracture might have been prevented. This decision leaves me to feel guilty about the NHS’s failings, and uncertain whether I should be honest about these with the patient and family in front of me.”
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Campaigners say one in two women and one in five men over 50 will break a bone as a result of osteoporosis but 90,000 people every year miss out on treatment because of poor the lack of fracture liaison services.
There will be deep disappointment if instructions to roll out these services are not included in Mr Streeting’s latest “planning guidance” for NHS Trusts.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Patients around the country, including those suffering from osteoporosis, are waiting too long for care and treatment. That is why we have committed to ending the postcode lottery for fracture liaison services, and we are investing in an extra 29,000 scans a year to diagnose earlier and improve bone health.
“Through our plan for change we are working to cut waiting times for all patients from 18 months to a maximum of 18 weeks.”