Wes Streeting is right: the NHS is broken. Since we launched the Better Bones campaign last summer, 8,000 people have suffered broken hips that could have been prevented by early access to medication.
A quarter of those have taken place since May, when Mr Streeting promised voters he’d extend Fracture Liaison Services to every community by 2030.
With musculoskeletal conditions the top reason for people over 50 leaving work, Chancellor Rachel Reeves can’t afford to sit idly by if she wants to grow the economy. That’s why we’re calling on Mr Streeting and Ms Reeves to use the Budget to get these life-changing clinics set up universally by 2030. The ROS has proposed a joint venture with the NHS to get these services up and running on target. A coalition of medical societies, expert bodies and charities has pledged support.
And we can announce today that six integrated care boards have expressed strong interest in being in the first wave of the national rollout.
At last we can see an end to the scourge of osteoporosis.
All we need is for ministers to fire the starting gun.