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Supporting healthcare professionals to get osteoporosis services back up and running
Impact
17 Jun 2020
Ensuring you can get access to the medical care you need to manage your osteoporosis and avoid broken bones is our top priority.
So, we’ve launched new guidance and toolkits for healthcare professionals to support the safe reopening of osteoporosis services during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.
Most osteoporosis services stopped activity in March, as staff were redeployed to other wards to help with the COVID-19 outbreak. This meant many appointments were cancelled, which has created a backlog of people waiting for their assessments and treatments.
We know that this has left many of you with unanswered questions; more than half of callers to our Helpline in March and April said they had nowhere else to turn for help managing their osteoporosis and bone health.
Our experts are also worried that those who were less active during lockdown may now be at an increased risk of falls and broken bones, due to reduced muscle strength.
Jill Griffin, member of our clinical team, says: “Preventing broken bones is our top priority, to reduce the impact of osteoporosis on peoples’ lives and to ease the pressure on our already-stretched NHS.
“Getting osteoporosis services back up and running safely is absolutely vital in achieving this, so people have easier access to high quality and highly effective treatments.
“Our new guidance and toolkits support this recovery by providing healthcare professionals with guidance about how to safely reopen osteoporosis services and provide the best possible care at this challenging time.
“We’ve also submitted a proposal for the future of osteoporosis services to the UK parliamentary Health Select Committee – which makes recommendations for improvements in health and social care – to ensure that osteoporosis care is considered and prioritised by government.”
Do you have questions about managing your osteoporosis and bone health during the outbreak?
