Local Liberal Democrats have warned that the number of hospital admissions due to an older person falling, is set to rise to nearly 1,000 a day by the end of the decade.
The worrying forecast, according to data released by the Local Government Association, has prompted renewed calls for more funding for adult social care to invest in cost-effective prevention work to reduce falls, which can have devastating and life-threatening consequences on a person’s health and wellbeing.
New research shows that falls prevention programmes run by councils reduce the number of falls requiring hospital admission by nearly a third (29 per cent). For every £1 spent on preventing falls in the home, £3 is saved in hospital care.
Liberal Democrat [YOUR NAME] said extra government funding for councils to scale up this prevention work to address a rising older population would help the NHS by reducing the need for people to be admitted to hospital after a fall and cut costs to the public purse.
Falls are said to cost the NHS more than £2 billion a year – the amount needed to plug the annual funding gap that councils face in adult social care by 2020. But Government funding restrictions are limiting the work that local councils can do.
Local Liberal Democrats believe many falls can be avoided and are calling for:
- Greater awareness raising among the public around fall prevention
- The Government to fully address the adult social care funding gap, which will reach more than £2 billion by 2020
- Adult social care to be put on an equal footing to the NHS
Latest figures from England in 2016/17, show there were 316,669 hospital admissions of people aged 65 and over due to falling, amounting to two thirds of all fall-related admissions. Around a fifth of these were as a result of slipping, tripping or stumbling.
The number of fall-related hospital admissions among older people has increased by nine per cent over four years, and based on this trend, will continue to rise to around 350,000 by 2020/21. This is the equivalent of approximately 950 cases every day. In contrast, the number of admissions for those aged under 65 has remained constant.
Falls have a significant impact on older people, as well as adult social care and health services. They can lead to considerable distress, pain, injury, loss of confidence, loss of independence and even death.
The reasons for older people falling vary, but can include poor eyesight; dizziness, due to medication; poor physical health; long-term conditions, such as Parkinson’s Disease or stroke; badly fitted carpets; clutter in the home, and trying to hurry to answer the door or get to the toilet.
A few simple changes to a person’s lifestyle and home can help to reduce the risk of tripping, such as making sure rugs are correctly fitted, stairs are well lit and have handrails, replacing worn-out slippers, keeping active, or talking to a GP about any dizziness caused by taking multiple medications.
Liberal Democrat campaigner [YOUR NAME] said:
“It is deeply saddening when someone falls over, including in their own home, and have to go to hospital as a result.
“Not only is this traumatic and upsetting for the individual concerned and their families, but this has a significant impact on health and social care as well, which are already overstretched as a result of unprecedented demand.
“The fact these shocking figures are set to soar even higher over the next few years, will heap further strain on local services.
“Council-run fall prevention schemes, such as home assessment and modification programmes, have shown to significantly reduce the number of falls requiring hospital admission and to offer a good return on investment, saving money from the public purse. But government cuts mean less can be done, which has seen spending on prevention work from adult social care budgets reduced by more than £60 million in the past year.
“To reduce demand and cost pressures on the NHS, the Government needs to switch its focus from reducing delayed discharges from hospital to preventing admissions in the first place and put adult social care and the NHS on an equal footing.
“Older people may be at a greater risk of falling but in many cases falls can be prevented by making a few simple changes either to a person’s lifestyle or in the home. This could be anything from having regular eye tests, checking a rug is fitted correctly, replacing a pair of worn out slippers or doing moderate exercise.
“We want to raise awareness of these straightforward prevention tips to help reduce trips and falls, including while at home, and the unwanted consequence of ending up in a hospital bed.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- Data sourced from a Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics for England, published by NHS Digital. The figures relate to episodes of admitted patient care under a hospital consultant.
- NICE guidance – Falls in older people. Falls cost the NHS £2.3 billion a year
- Falls account for more than 4 million hospital bed days and are the most common cause of death from injury in people who are over 65 years old. (Page 10 & 53)
- Falls prevention programmes based on home assessment and modification schemes for elderly people have shown to reduce the number of falls requiring hospital admission over two years by an estimated 29 per cent. They also produce a financial return on investment of £3.17 for every £1 spent, and a societal (quality of life) return of £7.34 for every £1 spent. (Page 44)
- Councils provide community equipment to help people stay safe in their homes and sometimes, in addition, occupational therapy support is offered though this if often not accessible unless people meet eligibility thresholds so preventative action is often not available until after a fall has happened.
- When older people fall, their injuries can be more serious due to an increased likelihood of brittle bones which often results in admission to hospital. Hip fractures require major surgery while fractures of any kind often need an ongoing social care support package setting up after the person leaves hospital.
- Spend on prevention in 2017/18 forms 6.3 per cent of adult social care budgets, or £890 million. This is a smaller proportion of the budget than last year (7.1 per cent), and a decrease in cash terms from last year (£954 million). (Page 15)
- The LGA is calling for a £531 million reduction in a government public health grant to be reversed. The previous Government reduced councils’ public health grant by £331 million from 2016/17 to 2020/21. This followed a £200 million in-year reduction in 2015/16.
- Get up and go guide to staying steady
- RoSPA is currently running Stand Up, Stay Up – a three-year falls prevention programme funded by the Department of Health