SPONSORED: ‘Wes Streeting made 63 promises. With 2,000 lives at stake each year, why is there still no plan?’

SPONSORED

Two years ago, the Health Secretary promised people with osteoporosis life-saving early diagnosis clinics. He has repeated that promise 63 times – yet nothing has changed. And for every year Ministers delay, another 2,000 people die needlessly. 

People with osteoporosis have been overlooked for decades, driven by the mistaken belief that broken bones are a normal part of ageing rather than a treatable medical condition. This cruel disease silently weakens bones until they can break from coughs, sneezes or even a hug. For someone with osteoporosis, a fall from standing height can be enough to break a hip. Half of women over 50 will experience fractures due to the condition, alongside one in five men. 

I meet grandmothers terrified to lift a newborn baby for fear their bones could shatter. And women in early menopause told by GPs they have the bones of an 80-year-old. 

Yet help exists. Safe, effective treatments costing as little as £1 a week can restore independence and save lives. So why are millions still missing out? 

The answer is a brutal postcode lottery. Half of NHS Trusts still lack Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) – specialist clinics that identify patients and get them onto treatment before it’s too late. Without them, the consequences are devastating. A broken hip is often a death sentence – killing over a quarter of patients within a year. 

During the 2024 election, this community was given hope for the first time. All three main parties proposed a national rollout of FLS clinics to every area by 2030. Since then, Reform and the Greens have added their support too. 

Wes Streeting went furthest: he promised a plan for national roll-out would be one of his first acts in government. But two years on, no plan has been delivered. And we’ve seen no new clinics at all. 

Around 60 NHS Trusts in England still lack Fracture Liaison Services. A national roll-out takes time and requires steady progress year by year. Ministers needed to have delivered FLS to around 24 Trusts by now to stay on track for full roll-out by 2030. Instead, delivery stands at zero. 

In opposition, Wes Streeting described delays to these clinics as a “betrayal of patients”. With nearly two years now passed, we’ve had more delay under this government than the last. 

And delay costs lives. Around 2,000 people die each year following hip fractures that these clinics prevent. In the time since this promise was made, 4,000 lives have been lost waiting for roll-out. 

Meanwhile, the NHS has spent £150 million treating avoidable fractures since the election – far more than it would have cost to put these preventative clinics in place. This isn’t just a missed opportunity. It’s a failure that is harming patients right now. 

We should be making progress. More than 60 countries already are. New Zealand has just rolled out these services to cover 99% of its population, while Japan has quadrupled FLS in three years. In Wales, Ministers made FLS a national priority and mandated that, within five years, each service should develop the bandwidth to treat every citizen aged over 50 in their area.

By 2030, therefore, it will be markedly safer to grow old in Wales than in England. There is no excuse for England falling so far behind. 

Ministers point to a very small investment in bone scanners, made to honour a separate (very welcome) election promise. But a scan without treatment saves no one. Without assessment and follow-up through Fracture Liaison Services, patients remain at high risk of another fracture. 

Worse still, uncertainty from Whitehall is pushing fracture prevention locally into reverse. Some areas have paused their own plans, expecting a national rollout that has yet to materialise. 

Ultimately, the question is about political will. Ministers have made the commitment. They’ve repeated it 63 times. They know it will save lives and money. Why won’t they deliver it? People with osteoporosis have waited long enough. After decades of neglect, they were promised change. 

If the promise is broken, it will deepen the sense that their lives simply don’t matter. 

We stand ready to work with government to achieve the outcome they promised. We won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If a credible plan is published, we’ll get behind it and help Ministers get those clinics set up. 

But progress starts with a plan. 

During the election, people with osteoporosis were promised change. Two years on, they’re still waiting. So I ask the Health Secretary Wes Streeting directly: will you now publish the plan for the life-saving bone clinics you promised? 

For more information, visit theros.org.uk/StillNoPlan