Welcome to the Northern Bone Health Project Interactive Dashboard and Toolkit

The Northern Bone Health Project is a joint-working agreement between the NHSA and AMGEN, working in partnership with the four Northern Academic Health Science Networks, Interface Clinical Services and University of Sunderland, and an innovative new approach to reduce the risk of older people breaking bones which could save the NHS over £35 million, across the North of England, if it is fully scaled-out across the region.

This primary care based project was conducted between April 2020 and July 2021. A population health approach to primary and secondary prevention of fragility fractures and osteoporosis using bespoke FRAX-based clinical risk assessment software was adopted in the study.

The methodology and outcomes have been collated in this interactive dashboard and toolkit to share learning for primary care teams to implement.

The project identified patients at high risk of breaking bones, evaluate medications and treat those patients, where appropriate, with a bone-sparing agent to improve bone density.

Scaled up to the population level of the North’s 16 million, this would equal £35,163,642 in direct costs and £8,454,046 in residential costs…

The project, initially developed and tested by the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria and the Innovation Agency (AHSN for the North-West Coast), brought all four AHSNs across the North, including Health Innovation Manchester Greater Manchester and Yorkshire and Humber AHSN, together into implementing the project.

The Northern AHSNs have worked in partnership with AMGEN, NHSA and Interface Clinical Services, with University of Sunderland providing evaluation of the project, to deliver the approach to targeting fracture risk assessment and bone-sparing medication review at a primary care level.

The project completed in July 2021 and was designed as a ‘proof of concept’ to provide the evidence for a future-proof sustainable model of fracture reduction.