Bone health


This programme of work is now closed.


The Bone Health Programme aimed to improve health outcomes for patients who have suffered a fragility fracture or are at risk of sustaining a fragility fracture.

The NENC has the highest rate of emergency admissions for hip fractures of all regions in England, and is significantly above the national average. Falls and Fractures cost the NENC over £84m per annum.

The Bone Health Programme will promote improvements in bone health assessment and identification of people at risk through;

  • A clinical educational and training programme
  • Targeted case finding
  • Effective treatment pathways
  • Medication compliance.

The AHSN NENC is currently working on several Bone Health projects in collaboration with CCGs, GP Federations, Interface Clinical Services (ICS), Amgen and Kyowa Kirin with some fantastic results, a selection of which is shown below:

Northern Bone Health Collaboration

This is a collaboration between the four Northern AHSNs and the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) partnering with Interface Clinical Services (ICS) and Amgen. The collaborative aims to expand on the Bone Health work already completed in our region and to further test the initial conclusions on a larger scale.

Read full Press Release

Northumbria Bone Health Project

The AHSN NENC has funded a Clinical Pharamcist through Northumbria Healthcare Trust for two years to further develop our work in Bone Health, this work is currently ongoing in 16 GP Practices in Northumberland and will reported in 2020.

 

Results

A number of our Bone Health Projects are now complete, the outcomes are shown below

Falls and fracture prevention, a population approach

The AHSN NENC worked with Amgen on the following report ‘Falls and fracture prevention, a population approach. Optimisation of care through case review in patients with osteoporosis at high risk of fragility fracture.’

A large scale study undertaken by the AHSN NENC, Interface Clinical Services and Amgen investigated the cost impact of implementing a proactive fracture risk assessment strategy.  Results included:

  • 274 fractures could be prevented with effective bone sparing agent treatment
  • £ 1,274,045 could be saved in direct care costs due to prevented fractures
  • £ 328,143 could be saved in residential/nursing home costs due to prevented fractures

See Full Results

Article in QJM (International Journal of Medicine) – Fracture prevention: a population based intervention delivered in primary care

Bone Health Report Jan 2020