Nice Guidance On Osteoporosis

EDM number 1829 in 2006-07, proposed by John Austin on 03/07/2007.

That this House notes that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued its final appraisal documents on the primary and secondary prevention of osteoporotic fractures; welcomes the removal of restrictions to treatment on the basis of age; regrets that NICE has approved the use of just one treatment for patients at high risk of suffering an osteoporotic fracture; is deeply concerned that the treatment recommended by NICE, alendronate, is unsuitable for as many as one in four patients, many of whom are unable to tolerate the drug and its side effects, or fail to respond to the treatment, and therefore stop taking it; recognises that one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 are at risk of suffering an osteoporotic fracture; further recognises that the cost to the NHS of treating hip fractures alone is estimated to be around £1.73 billion a year, or approximtely £12,000 per incidence, notwithstanding the huge personal and social care costs and excluding other types of osteoporotic fracture; further welcomes the decision by the National Osteoporosis Society to appeal against the appraisal; and calls on NICE urgently to review its decision and to offer a range of mandatory treatments for postmenopausal women at high risk, in order to reduce their likelihood of suffering a painful and debilitating osteoporotic fracture.

This motion has been signed by a total of 90 MPs.