The Fracture Liaison Service Database (FLS-DB) is a clinically-led, web-based national audit of secondary fracture prevention in England and Wales commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP).
The FLS-DB patient audit has collected information on fragility fractures diagnosed from 1 January 2016.
Making clinical audit data transparent
In his transparency and open data letter to cabinet ministers on 7 July 2011, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, made a commitment to make clinical audit data available from the national audits within the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). This data will be released in an open and standardised format and provided annually from then onwards.
Covering Fracture Liaison Services (FLSs) in England and Wales, FLS-DB audit data includes information about data completeness, case-mix and care.
What information is being made available?
FLS level data on care processes. The data does not include details of individual patients or any patient identifiable data.
Using and interpreting the data
Data from the FLS-DB requires careful interpretation, and the information should not be looked at in isolation when assessing standards of care. Data is provided by every participating FLS in England and Wales.
Accessing the data
The data is being made available on the data.gov.uk website and on this page. Each year one file of data from the FLS-DB will be made available in CSV format. FLSs are identified by name.
What does the data cover?
The data documents FLS level compliance with defined clinical standards for secondary fracture prevention. Details of these standards can be found in the FLS-DB audit report.The audit was initiated to measure primarily against NICE technology assessments and guidance on osteoporosis, and the National Osteoporosis Society clinical standards for FLSs
What period does the data cover?
Round 1 - January 2016 to June 2016
For round one of the FLS-DB audit data was extracted from the FLS database in October 2016, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and June 2016.
Round 2 - January 2016 to December 2016
For round two of the FLS-DB audit data was extracted from the FLS database in June 2017, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and December 2016.
Round 3 - January 2017 to December 2017
Round 4 – January 2018 to December 2018
For round four of the FLS-DB audit, data was extracted from the FLS database in June 2019, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and December 2018.
Round 5 – January 2019 to December 2019
For round five of the FLS-DB audit, data was extracted from the FLS database in September 2020, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and December 2019.
Round 6 – January 2020 to December 2020
For round six of the FLS-DB audit, data was extracted from the FLS database in April 2021, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and December 2020.
Round 7 – January 2021 to December 2021
For round seven of the FLS-DB audit, data was extracted from the FLS database in May 2022, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and December 2021.
Round 8 – January 2022 to December 2022
For round seven of the FLS-DB audit, data was extracted from the FLS database in June 2023, and covers patients diagnosed with a fragility fracture within the NHS between January and December 2022.