草莓视频

Services have a 鈥渂acklog鈥� for scans and issues with 鈥渃apacity, quality and workforce鈥�

The roll-out of Fracture Liaison Services across Welsh Health Boards has been achieved - but there is still a lot more work to do, the Welsh Government has announced.

Following a campaign by the 草莓视频 to end the postcode lottery for patients in Wales, more than 拢1m has been invested to develop the specialist bone fracture services in areas that didn鈥檛 have one, and to expand and improve existing services.聽Fracture liaison services (FLSs) are crucial in diagnosing and treating osteoporosis early.

In a statement, Jeremy Miles, Wales鈥檚 Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, said services are still experiencing serious challenges in 鈥渃apacity, quality and workforce鈥�, but he committed to fixing the problems.

Mr Miles said: 鈥淲hile we can celebrate rolling out fracture liaison services across Wales, the journey does not end here. Each health board has made a long-term commitment to continue to develop and improve their service to support the needs of their local population and to reduce the impact falls and fractures have on individuals and on the NHS.鈥�

Outlining what has been achieved by the September 2024 deadline, Mr Miles said: 鈥淔racture liaison services have been established in the six university health boards and mutual agreements are in place between Powys teaching Health Board and adjacent district general hospitals to ensure access to services for people living in Powys communities. The funding has enabled the recruitment of 13 clinical nurse specialists and 11 administration staff.鈥�

While recognising 鈥渢he dedication of Dr Inder Singh, the National Clinical Lead for Falls and Frailty and his team鈥�, Mr Miles highlighted serious challenges to existing services.

He warned: 鈥淒XA services in Wales are facing a number of challenges in relation to capacity, quality and workforce. Dr Singh and the Fracture Liaison Service Quality Assurance and Development Group will work with health boards over the coming 12 months to address the backlog in DXA services; improve access to scans and reporting and invest in workforce training and development.

Mr Miles added: 鈥淥ur priority in the next phase of this work will be to nurture the ongoing development of services and continuing to work with Powys teaching Health Board to strengthen its fracture liaison service provision by considering what can be delivered in the community.聽

鈥淭imely access to Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) services is essential for the effective management of people with osteoporosis and those at high risk of fractures and is key to the continued success of the fracture liaison service model in Wales.鈥�

Craig Jones, Chief Executive of the 草莓视频, said:

鈥淧eople in Wales can be proud that their government was the first to mandate universal fracture liaison services to end the revolving door of fracture patients in hospitals.

鈥淎n important first step has now been taken, with all acute health boards across Wales now providing these life-changing bone services. We must now build on this foundation by setting out a phased plan for every one of the services to mature to cover the whole local population. Otherwise, we鈥檒l continue to miss most opportunities to prevent devastating fractures. We鈥檙e pleased the Welsh Government has signalled that further plans will be published before the end of the year.聽 We re-commit to work closely with the strong team there to achieve 100% coverage and protection for the public鈥�.聽聽

Fracture liaison services ensure people aged 50 and over have their bone health checked and managed following a fracture. They can prescribe medication to reduce the risk of subsequent breaks.

DXA is a medical imaging technique used to measure bone mineral density; it is considered the gold standard for diagnosing osteoporosis and assessing fracture risk.