The Earl of Munsterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman on 26 January (WA 143–44), what specific measures are being taken to ascertain that the new Osteoporosis Guidelines for General Practitioners, developed under the auspices of the National Osteoporosis Society and the Royal College of Physicians, will be implemented at the national and local level. [HL2190]
§ Baroness HaymanThe Royal College of Physicians' clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and the desktop guide for general practitioners and primary care teams are guidance. They offer advice on effectiveness to inform clinical decisions.
It is not possible to enforce guidelines or to tell clinicians what treatments they can or cannot provide. That does not mean, however, that we expect clinicians to ignore best practice where it is available.
The Department of Health highly recommends both documents as a basis for developing local osteoporosis strategies and where strategies already exist would expect them to be consistent with this guidance.
The noble Earl will be aware from our previous answer of the work undertaken to publicise these documents in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.