Fracture Liaison Service Database (FLS-DB) Annual Report 2018

There are over 300,000 fragility fractures in the England and Wales every year in patients aged 50 years and over. Having a fragility fracture identifies a patient at risk of another fracture and each patient needs to be assessed for their risk of osteoporosis and falling. Those assessed to be at high risk must be offered effective interventions to reduce their risk of future fractures. This post-fracture care requires joint working between specialties in hospitals, GP surgeries and community services.

The FLS-DB is the only national secondary fracture prevention patient level audit in the world. From our first annual report in 2016, we developed 11 KPIs critical for an FLS to be effective and highlighted variation in each of them, particularly in identification and monitoring. These were derived from NICE technology appraisals and guidance on osteoporosis and falls, and the NOS clinical standards for FLSs and quality standards for osteoporosis and prevention of fragility fractures.

This report describes the assessment and treatment for osteoporosis for 52,731 patients who sustained a fragility fracture in 2017. It also describes the impact of the implementation of service improvement plans, by comparing performance measures before and after as well as assessing whether any improvement was sustained.

To view the full report click on the link below.