An innovative new approach to reduce the risk of older people breaking bones could save the NHS over £35 million, across the North of England, if it is fully scaled-out across the region.

The project will identify patients at high risk of breaking bones, evaluate medications and treat those patients, where appropriate, with a bone-sparing agent to improve bone density.

Scaled up to the population level of the North’s 16 million, 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.

The 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 Greater Manchester and Yorkshire and Humber are implementing the project.

The Northern AHSNs will be working in partnership with AMGEN, The Northern Health Science Alliance 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 until March 2021 and designed as a ‘proof of concept’ to provide the evidence for a future-proof sustainable model of fracture reduction.

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