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8 people over 65 die each day from falls costing NHS £1.7bn per year
February 11, 2003 12:00 AM
In a speech today to "Friends of the Elderly", Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Older People, will highlight new figures showing that 7,500 older people sustain a fall every day, with 8 people per day dying as a direct result. Mr Burstow will also say that the cost of older people suffering falls costs the NHS £1.7 billion a year.
The figures come from an analysis of the Health and Safety Executive's Non Fatal Accidents 2001 released in January 2003. They show that each year, one-third of the population aged 65 and over, rising to more than half of those aged 85, will fall at least once.
Paul Burstow MP said:
"Every day, 7,500 people aged 65 and over suffer a fall. Every day, 1,980 of those falls are serious enough to be categorised as major falls. Every day, 8 of those falls results in a death.
"A fall can turn an older person's life upside down. It causes a loss of mobility, leading to social isolation and depression. It can cause hypothermia, infection, and increased dependency and disability leading to some form of long term care.
"The personal cost of a fall can be huge. So too is the cost to the NHS. Hip fractures alone cost the NHS an estimated £1.7 billion a year. Yet despite the National Service Framework standard on falls the Department of Health has failed to appreciate the full cost to the taxpayer and to the older person."
ENDS
Notes to editors
• Mr Burstow will be delivering the speech to the Friends of the Elderly at the Worshipful Company of Innholders, the Great Hall, 30 College Street EC4
• Founded in 1905, Friends of the Elderly is a charity providing a combination of nursing, residential and dementia care from nine sites and support services to people through day centres or in their own homes. Friends makes grants nationally from funds it manages and helps people to access other funds they may be entitled to. Around two thousand people are assisted each week.
• A copy of the transcript is available on request from stokoer@parliament.uk
The figures were calculated from the HSE Non Fatal Accidents report that can be found at
http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/deps/doh/survey01/nfa/nfa01.htm
In paragraph 1.2.2 it states:-
"Each year one-third of the population aged 65 and over, rising to more than half of those aged 85 and living at home, will fall at least once. These proportions are even higher among those in institutions."
Based on the over 65 population of England, it can be seen that there are 2.76million falls a year, with 722,616 classed as major.
As can be seen in the table below women are three times more likely to experience a major fall than men.
Total number of major falls in older people aged 65 and over
Total Men & women %age of men who have major falls Men Total male major falls %age women who have major falls Woman Total female major fall rate
65 - 69 2153925 4 1034649 41385.96 9 1119276 100734.8
70 - 74 1948731 4 886793 35471.72 9 1061938 95574.42
75 - 79 1645033 9 687287 61855.83 13 957746 124507
80 - 84 1105896 9 408958 36806.22 13 696938 90601.94
85 - 89 638384 7 193860 13570.2 17 444524 75569.08
90 and over 315632 7 71182 4982.74 17 244450 41556.5 Total number of major falls
194072.6 528543.8 722616
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