Osteoporosis sufferer says lobbying Tory MPs a painful ‘waste of time’

Stephen Robinson, 71, who has the agonising brittle bone illness, attended October’s gathering in Manchester in a bid to safe higher therapy for fellow victims.

But after hours of standing and strolling round he admits it was a painful “waste of time”.

Mr Robinson was a part of a delegation from the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Along with the Sunday Express we have now launched the Better Bones marketing campaign.

It calls for an additional £30million a yr for specialist bone clinics which detect and deal with the illness.

And it’s calling for all over-50s to have entry to those Fracture Liasion Services together with a devoted bone fracture tsar to supervise care in every UK nation.

Research reveals the measures would stop 74,000 fractures over 5 years, saving the NHS £665million.

Mr Robinson, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, who was pressured to surrender work as a result of illness, nonetheless struggled to get a analysis regardless of agonising again ache.

In 2017, after paying greater than £3,000 to a non-public clinic, he was instructed he had osteoporosis.

He has suffered 10 fractures in his backbone, his most up-to-date damage being at the beginning of this month.

Mr Robinson wrote to his native MP – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – calling for a gathering, which has not but been granted. The space doesn’t have a fracture liaison clinic.

Last August, Mental Health Minister Maria Caulfield instructed the Sunday Express she would “explore setting up more fracture liaison
services”. A package deal of measures was additionally promised to return within the Autumn Statement. Both pledges had been damaged.

Mr Robinson stated: “I went to the conference and we put our campaign forward to people on various panels. It looked promising.

“There were lots of statements, lots of promises, and they said there’d be something in the Statement. So we left feeling quite happy.

“Then I watched the mini-Budget and came out thinking, ‘What a waste of time that was’.”

But Mr Robinson stated he is not going to cease campaigning. “I will never get better, but I don’t want anyone to go through what I have,” he stated.

“If I’d had an FLS nearby, maybe I’d never have gone through so many injuries. It can be hard to stay hopeful.”

ROS chief govt Craig Jones stated: “People like Stephen have worked tirelessly to make a case that has been endorsed by everyone bar ministers.

“Campaigners like Stephen aren’t doing it for selfish reasons – they’re standing up for those in their 40s and 50s who are coming next, to get them the treatments they were denied.

“Stephen’s MP is the busiest in the country, but he’s the only elected representative he’s got.

“I believe Rishi Sunak is a politician who sees the importance of staying in touch with the people, so I hope he’ll give his constituent 20 minutes of his time.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson stated: “Our Major Conditions Strategy will look at how we can better manage and treat conditions and we’ll work with NHS England to explore supporting the provision of fracture liaison services.”