Osteoporosis (Hansard, 6 May 2004)

§ Diana Organ
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on services for people with osteoporosis.[169870]

§ Dr. Ladyman
Services to identify, treat and offer preventative advice are available on the National Health Service. The Government's response to osteoporosis has been to include it in the falls standard of the national service framework for older people. The standard requires local health services to establish appropriate interventions and advice to prevent osteoporotic fractures.
To support this requirement, the Department has asked the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to develop clinical guidance on osteoporosis and undertake a technology appraisal on new treatments.

§ Diana Organ
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to report its recommendations on a technology appraisal on(a) the newer osteoporosis treatments and (b) a clinical guideline on osteoporosis. [169871]
1804W

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
Available information is shown in the table.

§ Dr. Ladyman
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE.) is due to publish its appraisal of technologies for the secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women in October 2004. A clinical guideline on the assessment of fracture risk and the prevention of osteoporotic fractures in individuals at high risk is expected to be published in June 2005. A further appraisal of technologies for the primary prevention of osteoporotic fragility fractures in postmenopausal women is being informed by work being carried out by the World Health Organisation and the NICE guideline development group, and is also expected to be published in 2005. Copies of the draft guidance and information on their progress can be found on the NICE website at www.nice.org.uk.

§ Diana Organ
To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts provide preventative osteopososis services. [169873]

§ Dr. Ladyman
This information is not collected centrally.
1805W

§ Dr. Murrison
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of preventative measures likely to be of help in the management of osteoporosis; and if he will make a statement on how he will encourage an increase in(a) dietary calcium. (b) dietary vitamin D and (c) weight-bearing exercise. [169922]

§ Dr. Ladyman
The Department gives general lifestyle messages for preventing osteoporosis, revolving around diet, exercise, reducing smoking and avoiding excessive consumption of alcohol.
We are linking the national service framework for older people with wider work on healthy active life in older age to encourage older people to increase levels of physical activity and to assist with accident prevention.
We are funding projects around increasing and encouraging physical activity in residential care settings and increasing the availability of training for those offering exercise as part of falls prevention.
In June 1998, the Department issued guidelines to general practitioners and primary healthcare teams entitled, "A quick reference Primary Care Guide on the Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis". It recommends that adequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D at the reference nutrient intake are maintained.
The Royal College of Physicians guidelines on osteoporosis recommended to health authorities that they should put arrangements in place so that those at particularly high risk of osteoporosis have the opportunity to receive appropriate investigation, prophylaxis, such as hormone replacement therapy or calcium and vitamin D or calcium and bisphosphonates, and advice, for example, about smoking and physical activity.