• Sindhuja Jothimurugan, Subramanian Jothimurugan, Deepali Sanganee, Thushani Wickramaratne, and Myo Lynn.
• Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
• Br J Gen Pract. 2020 Jun 1; 70 (suppl 1).

BackgroundOsteoporosis is a major public health problem with the ageing population in the UK. However, there is no known national algorithm for the management of osteoporosis in primary care. Therefore, a treatment pathway was developed in secondary care for patients in the community.AimThis audit cycle investigates whether patients at a GP practice with a population of 14 000 have been appropriately identified, coded as osteoporosis, treated, and have followed the recommended pathway.MethodA search of the practice clinical system was undertaken for three groups of patients coded as: patients currently on the existing osteoporosis register; patients with a code of 'osteoporosis' or 'fragility fracture' but not prescribed an osteoporosis treatment; and patients currently prescribed an osteoporosis treatment with no coding for 'osteoporosis' or 'fragility fracture'. The words 'osteoporosis', 'fragility fracture', 'QOF', and all individual drug names were used in the search engine.ResultsThe completed audit cycle shows an increase in the proportion of patients following the local guidelines pathway, from 75% in 2018 to 81% in 2019, emphasising the importance of having a guideline for GPs to follow in order to optimise treatment and prevent future fragility fractures.ConclusionThis is a pilot project to assess the ability to identify patients who have osteoporosis and review their treatment pathway. The results are promising as the analysed data indicate that GP practice lists can be used to identify and treat high-risk patients for osteoporosis and assess the adherence to the pathway. Using the pathway, GPs can more efficiently diagnose and manage patients.© British Journal of General Practice 2020.

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