We need Wes to honour pledge on bone clinics

TWO YEARS ago we won a breakthrough for people who have been overlooked for decades: people living with osteoporosis.

- By Prof Neil Gittoes

There are more scanners but experts say the necessary follow-up treatment is not yet available

(Picture: GETTY)

This cruel condition leaves bones so fragile they can break from something as simple as a cough, a sneeze or a stumble.Half of women over 50 will suffer life-changing fractures, alongside one in five men.

I meet grandmothers too frightened to lift a newborn baby for fear their bones could shatter.

I've met 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.

These are specialist clinics that identify patients and get them on to treatment before it’s too late.

Without them, the consequences are devastating. A broken hip is often a death sentence - killing a quarter of patients within a year.

Thanks to the Sunday Express, we celebrated a political breakthrough before the 2024 election.