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Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network is supporting an innovative new approach to reducing the risk of older people breaking bones and which could save the NHS over £35 million, across the North of England.

Scaled up to the level of the North’s 16 million population, this would equal £35,163,642 in direct costs and £8,454,046 in residential costs – a total of £43,617,688 potential savings in health and social care.

We have now recruited GPs that care for a total of 160,000 people to take part in the project, which identifies patients at high risk of breaking bones, evaluates medications and treats those patients, where appropriate, with a bone-sparing agent to improve bone density.

If you would like more information about the project and any future participation opportunities please contact Rob Bussooa

Falls and fractures are a common and serious health issue faced by older people in the UK. Every year, there are around 255,000 falls-related emergency hospital admissions in England among patients aged 65 and older.

Falls are estimated to cost the NHS more than £2.3bn a year and the annual total cost of fragility fractures to the UK has been estimated at £4.4bn. Current national guidance provides evidence that effective case finding and use of appropriate drug therapies reduces the risk of future clinical fractures by up to 50%.

The bone health project has been developed and tested by the AHSN NENC and the Innovation Agency (AHSN for the North West Coast). Now all four AHSNs across the North including Yorkshire & Humber are implementing the project.

The Northern AHSNs will be working in partnership with AMGEN, The Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) and Interface to deliver the approach to targeting fracture risk assessment and bone-sparing medication review at a primary care level.

The project is scheduled to run for one year and designed as a ‘proof of concept’ to provide the evidence for a future-proof sustainable model of fracture reduction.

Dr Sunil Nedungayil, Principal GP at The Castle Medical Group Clitheroe and GP with Special Interest in Musculoskeletal Medicine at the Integrated MSK, Pain & Rheumatology Service (IMPReS) said: “By preventing fractures, pain and disability, this project aims at improving the quality of life of patients and their independence. It will enable them to make valuable contributions to their communities and the economy as a whole.”

Dr Iain Goff, Consultant Rheumatologist at Northumbria Healthcare Trust said: “In North Tyneside, the bone health project has provided an informative and insightful look into the current practice in our region around management of fracture risk. The level of detail has helped us make informed decisions across primary and secondary care, and the clinical leadership shown by the pharmacy team has been outstanding.”

Sue Hart Health Programme Manager AHSN NENC said: “In the North East & North Cumbria we have recently completed a large population based, risk factor assessment incorporating almost 600,000 patients.

“Our study identified many opportunities, both simple and large scale to ensure that all patients identified receive the gold standard care recommended by National Guidance. This proposed programme offers the North of England a valuable opportunity to adopt and spread the learning from NENC, enabling the delivery of better patient care and improved cost efficiencies.”

Nicola Wilson Interim CEO of the Northern Health Science Alliance said: “We are delighted to offer our support to this innovative and ground-breaking Northern project which will see a huge amount of benefit for both patients and the national health and social care services.

“As the NHS looks increasingly towards prevention, the Bone Health Project demonstrates the savings to people’s health and to NHS budgets that can be made from taking an intelligent preventative approach.”