Fracture Liaison Service for healthcare providers

A Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) identifies individuals who have sustained a fragility fracture, contacts them for assessment, and provides advice to minimise the risk of subsequent fractures due to osteoporosis or low bone density.

Find out more about how this service can support your patients, who have had a fragility fracture.

The WellSouth Fracture Liaison Service

The Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) is an ACC funded secondary prevention service delivered by WellSouth Primary Health Network aimed at reducing the burden of fragility fractures.

It is staffed by trained Fracture Liaison Co-ordinators and a designated Clinical Lead and is part of a comprehensive national network of services.

The FLS actively reviews hospital and emergency department case information, radiology reports and ACC claims data to identify patients >/=50 years that have had a Fragility (low trauma) Fracture and meet the service criteria.
Patients can be referred directly to the service if they appear to have been missed by the FLS, but still meet the eligibility criteria.

Fracture Liaison Service Actions

Patients who are identified as having sustained a fragility fracture will be contacted directly by a Fracture Liaison Co-ordinator who will:

  • Conduct a bone health and falls risk assessment and create a personal care plan.

  • Investigate falls risk, advise and inform on lifestyle factors, explain bone health and bone protection, and refer the patient to a strength and balance programme if indicated.

  • Refer FLS patients for funded DEXA scanning if required and clinically appropriate.

  • Order appropriate blood tests if indicated and not already available

  • Identify patients who may benefit from bisphosphonate therapy and communicate with their GP to help develop a long-term plan for reducing risk of future falls and fractures.

Fracture Liaison Service Referrals

1. Check the criteria

Inclusions - Patients aged 50 years or older and who have:

  • Had a fragility fracture, e.g. fracture resulting from a fall at standing height or less

  • Not previously been assessed by the service for a current fracture (e.g. vertebral or other insufficiency fractures identified opportunistically by radiological reporting.)

Exclusions

  • Fracture of the skull, hands or feet

  • Fracture due to trauma, metastasis or other bone pathology

  • Periprosthetic fracture

2. Prepare the required information

  • Patient's name and NHI number

  • Date and site of fragility fracture, and mechanism of injury

3. Make a request
4. Inform the patient 

If the request is accepted the service will contact them with information about bone health and treatment. If indicated, they will arrange a bone density scan appointment. 

  • Patient consent will be obtained for their (anonymised) data to be loaded onto the Australia and New Zealand Fragility Fracture Registry (ANZFFR) a clinical quality register.

  • The FLS will communicate with their GP to help develop a long-term plan for reducing the risks of future falls and fractures.

  • The FLS will follow them up for one year with contact on or before 12 weeks, then 16 weeks, then 52 weeks from fracture.

Contact

Contact the Fracture Liaison Service by: