Queen-backed charity accuses Labour of using bogus bone clinic figures

The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), a leading UK health charity whose president is Queen Camilla, has formally complained to the UK Statistics Authority about what it calls 'deeply misleading' claims made by Labour government ministers regarding the rollout of Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) in England. These specialist clinics, embedded in NHS trusts, are designed to identify patients who have suffered a first fracture and then investigate them for osteoporosis, a serious bone disease affecting 3.5 million people in the UK, mainly women. Left undiagnosed, patients are vulnerable to life-changing fractures. The ROS has campaigned since 2024, alongside the Mail on Sunday, for the government to deliver FLS universally, arguing that doing so could prevent 74,000 broken bones over five years and save thousands of lives.

Before the 2024 General Election, then-shadow health secretary Wes Streeting promised that delivering FLS everywhere would be one of his 'first acts' in government. However, the charity now says that only half of NHS trusts in England actually have these services, despite the government's claims of near-universal coverage. In recent weeks, health ministers Gillian Merron and Karin Smyth made statements in Parliament suggesting significant progress: Baroness Merron told the House of Lords that 23 out of 25 Integrated Care Boards in England now have FLS, and Mrs Smyth told MPs that '92 per cent of the country is now covered'. The ROS argues these figures are bogus because they are based on the redrawing of NHS administrative boundaries, not on any meaningful increase in patient services. Ruth Wakeman, a director at the ROS, said: 'Redrawing the lines on an NHS map does not create new services or give patients meaningful new access to care. Patients have been given a deeply misleading picture of progress.'

The dispute has escalated to involve Lord Black, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Osteoporosis, who has written to MPs and peers protesting about the government's 'misleading figures'. The charity is now calling on Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to 'correct the record'. The row threatens to embarrass the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has recently taken office, as it highlights a failure to deliver on a key pre-election pledge. The ROS's complaint to the UK Statistics Authority, the independent regulator for official statistics, could lead to a formal investigation into the government's use of data. The situation is particularly concerning because osteoporosis is a serious and often underdiagnosed condition, and the lack of FLS means many patients are not being identified early enough to prevent further fractures and disability. The charity and its supporters argue that the government's misleading claims not only misrepresent the true state of services but also undermine public trust in health policy and could delay real improvements for patients.