New push to diagnose osteoporosis

The government has announced a £20m boost in funding for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis.

One in three women over 50 suffer from osteoporosis, which can lead to fractures and disability.

The new money is being used to expand the number of DXA scanners which measure bone density and are used to diagnose the disease.

Ministers will commit £3m this year and a further £17m will be made available over three years to build NHS capacity to improve access and reduce waiting times.

"Each year 14,000 people die in the UK as a result of an osteoporotic hip fracture. Osteoporosis is a devastating, debilitating condition which increases the risk of fracture when an older person falls," said health minister Stephen Ladyman.

"Improving access to scanning for those attending falls services is part of our pledge to have an integrated falls service in place by April 2005, which the NHS is on target to meet.

"We spend £1.7bn a year treating fractures caused by falling these integrated services reduce the risk of falls by half."

Professor Ian Philp, the national clinical director for older people, added: "We are on course for delivering integrated falls services to help reduce the risk of future falls and fractures amongst the many people who present to health services with a serious fall.

"This additional investment will increase the capacity and responsiveness in scanning for osteoporosis amongst fallers and reduce their risk of subsequent fractures."