Craig Jones

Craig Jones became CEO of the Royal Osteoporosis Society in March 2020, five days before the first lockdown. He recognized that osteoporosis services in the NHS were in a chronic state of crisis, and that ROS’s support services would never be able to offset the harm caused by 90,000 people missing out on bone drugs. Craig radically rebooted our strategy, repositioning ROS as a bold, campaigning charity to make an irresistible case that Fracture Liaison (diagnostic) Services (FLS) should be prioritized in every NHS Trust.

Craig made the issue impossible for Government to ignore by persuading two newspapers - the Sunday Express and Daily Mail - to launch concurrent campaigns for this outcome. 271 Parliamentarians pledged support.

This delivered the following outcomes: Both Conservatives and Labour made 100% FLS coverage policy; Wes Streeting said one of his first priorities would be to establish a rollout plan, while pledging to double bone scanners; The Welsh Health Minister mandated full population coverage of osteoporosis services within 18 months; The Scottish Minister pledged a public audit.

Craig’s vision for mass-market public engagement led to our Risk Checker, which enabled 300,000 people to check their risk over 18 months. 29,000 got an early diagnosis.