Nice news! but osteoporosis charity calls on government...

NICE NEWS! BUT OSTEOPOROSIS CHARITY CALLS ON GOVERNMENT FOR MORE FUNDING The National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) today welcomed the announcement of a review of osteoporosis by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). But the charity is warning the government that continued under-funding of osteoporosis services will extend suffering for patients and lengthen hospital waiting lists. Director of the NOS, Linda Edwards said: "This news demonstrates how seriously the government is now taking this disease which costs UK tax payers more than £1.7 billion per year. We welcome a NICE Guideline for Osteoporosis which will help greatly in guiding doctors and health professionals to diagnose, treat and prevent this painful disease more effectively. "But this will be the fourth or fifth official report on osteoporosis without any money to improve services - the result is that osteoporosis is scandalously underfunded." The disease costs the country nearly £5 million each day and recent research has now revealed there are more than 300,000 new fractures each year which cause serious pain and loss of quality of life to 1 in 3 women and 1 in 12 men over the age of 50. Linda continued: "In human terms, these shocking figures mean broken bones and lives ruined for millions of people each year yet there is still no government money to provide even the most basic diagnostic and treatment services nationwide. "This is intolerable and cannot continue. Although the NICE review is a clear recognition of the seriousness of this disease it will not be completed for at least two years. Funding must be made available now. Patients deserve better and those at high risk cannot wait for further fractures and more deaths to prove the point." More... NICE NEWS! BUT OSTEOPOROSIS CHARITY CALLS ON GOVERNMENT FOR MORE FUNDING (cont.) Many patients who have one broken bone go on to suffer more fractures because only one in 10 receive appropriate treatment. This is despite the availability of a range of cost-effective treatments which are infrequently prescribed - even for those in the high-risk groups for fracture. The NOS says DXA machines to diagnose osteoporosis are available in 170 centres in the UK but most are used for less than three days each week because of underfunding. Linda continued: "There are 40 premature deaths each day as a result of osteoporosis and more than 800 broken bones daily throughout the UK, many of which could be avoided with earlier treatment and prevention. But this can only be achieved by providing comprehensive services to diagnose and treat the disease. "To implement these services in primary care would cost less than £100 million as opposed to the £1.7 billion spent on repairing osteoporotic fractures. The cost savings alone are obvious!" Ends NOTES TO EDITORS For more information please contact Trevor Reid, Pauline Davey or Nadine Singh at the National Osteoporosis Society on 01761 471771. Osteoporosis · Osteoporosis costs the NHS and government approximately £1.7 billion each year (1) · 1 in 3 women and 1 in 12 men over 50 will develop osteoporosis (2) · Every 3 minutes someone has a fracture as a result of osteoporosis (3) · An estimated 3 million people in the UK suffer from osteoporosis (4) · Osteoporosis is on the increase - there were 10,000 hip fractures a year in the 1960s; now there are 70,000 hip fractures a year (5) · Hip fractures account for more than 20% of orthopaedic bed occupancy in the UK (6) · Half of all survivors after hip fracture cannot cope with living independently again(7) (1)Torgerson DJ, 'The Effective Management of Osteoporosis', UK Key Advances in Clinical Practice, Chapter 9, Ed Barlow, d, R. Miles (Aesculapius Medical Press 2001) (2) Melton LJ, et al, 'Perspective. How many women have osteoporosis?' Journal of Bone Mineral Research 1992,9: 1005-1010 (3) National Osteoporosis Society estimated figure (4) National Osteoporosis Society estimated figure (5)Cooper C, Epidemiology of Osteoporosis, Osteoporosis International, Supplement 2, S2 - S8. 1999 (6)Cryer C, et al, 'Injury epidemiology in the south east: identifying priorities for action.' Prepared by the South East Institute of Public Health, South Thames Regional Health Authority 1993 (7)Cooney LM and Marottoli RA, Functional decline following hip fracture, Fourth International Symposium on Osteoporosis and Consensus Development Conference Proceedings 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/20/20020520BIT00360/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/20/20020520BIT00360/wkr0002.pdf