𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Wes Streeting’s ambition flashes brighter than a lightning bolt, and that is no bad thing. There are more than 400 Labour MPs, but how many fans of politics could name 10% of them? You get the sense many MPs would be happier working as policy wonks in the civil service or haggling about bin collections on a local council.

Not Mr Streeting. He is gripped by the idea that if you win enough votes, you get the chance to lead the country – and you might even change it for the better. If he were in the United States, he would be cheered for journeying from a council estate and a comprehensive school to Cambridge University, Westminster and the cabinet table.

His grandfather and grandmother both spent time in jail, he grew up in a lone-parent family on free school meals, and at the age of just 43, he is one of a tiny group of people considered a contender to be the next prime minister. Mr Streeting has a minute majority of just 528 votes in London’s Ilford North, and he fully understands – to the apparent resentment of his Left-wing colleagues – that to have a shot at winning the Labour party needs to appeal to people who do not keep a copy of Das Kapital in the bathroom.

Despite becoming Health Secretary with zero ministerial experience, he delivered some genuine progress – most recently hitting the target of 65% of patients being treated within 18 weeks. He did not pretend the NHS was still the envy of the world but it looked like he was working hard to rescue a crisis-hit health service.

At least, most of the time.

A great leader requires more than ambition, charisma and talent. He or she needs to inspire trust and deliver on promises. And there is one glaring area where people who put their faith in Mr Streeting feel badly burnt.

It is scandalous that simple opportunities to detect osteoporosis, the potentially deadly bone disease, are routinely squandered. Only around half of English trusts have “fracture liaison services” (FLS) in place to check for the disease when someone in an at-risk group turns up with their first fracture.

Approximately 3.5 million people in the United Kingdom are understood to have osteoporosis, but legions of them miss out on medication which could save their lives. Successive governments have allowed osteoporosis to go untreated, resulting in 500,000 broken bones a year in the UK, at a cost of more than £4.5billion to the economy and NHS.

For just £ 44million a year for two years, the FLS could be “pump-primed” and rolled out across the nation, finally ending the postcode lottery. This is a true no-brainer, and it is why the Sunday Express joined the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) to launch the Better Bones campaign.

There was genuine rejoicing when Mr Streeting – the man who looked all but certain to be the next Health Secretary – pledged to deliver universal access to the services by 2030.

He said that tasking NHS England with a roll-out plan would be one of his first acts in Government. Labour won its landslide and Mr Streeting took control of the Department of Health and Social Care. Surely this would be the moment England’s bone health fiasco would end?

Alas, the postcode lottery is in place. The ROS estimates 4,000 people have died following hip fractures, which could have been prevented in the two years since Mr Streeting made his commitment.

He let a magnificent opportunity to ease pressure on the NHS go to waste. Full implementation would prevent 74,000 fractures over five years and free up 750,000 NHS bed days. The welcome investment in bone scanners was no substitute for stopping the disease in its tracks.

The Labour wunderkind appeared to resent being reminded of his promise. Planning guidance for 2025-26 contained no instructions to roll out FLS, and he was caught on video blasting the ROS as the “worst offender” when it came to lobbying government.

He said: “If it was up to the Royal Osteoporosis Society, the planning guidance would be called the Planning Guidance to Ensure Complete Rollout of Fracture Liaison Services by 2030 (Why Didn’t You Do It Yesterday?)”.

When people ranging from the Queen to osteoporosis-struck mums give up their time to support this brilliant charity, it is saddening to see a supposed rising star mocking their efforts to fight a cruel disease. Yes, Mr Streeting reaffirmed his commitment to the pledge when confronted with campaigners, and it made it into his 10-year plan for the NHS. But the continuing absence of an all-important delivery plan is as disappointing as it is worrying.

The Government has committed to rolling out FLS on at least 68 occasions, but talk is cheap. Spin without delivery is sophistry, and each empty promise was a drop of acid on the credibility of the Government. Mr Streeting had the chance to be a heroic Health Secretary but this sad chapter of inaction does nothing to suggest he is ready to be Prime Minister.