Dangers of poor vision highlighted on National Falls Awareness Day

22 June 2009

The Eye Health Alliance is backing calls from Age Concern and Help the Aged for better and more consistent falls services across the UK, on National Falls Awareness Day on Tuesday 23 June 2009.

The last national audit of falls and bone health services concluded that services to prevent dangerous falls and fractures amongst older people are patchy and opportunities to prevent secondary falls and fractures are often missed .

The report highlights that 700,000 older people each year visit A&E following a fall yet health authorities rarely provide a coordinated fall or fracture service. Poor vision is often a factor in falls amongst older people and the Eye Health Alliance is urging eye health professionals to support National Falls Awareness Day and raise awareness of the link between poor vision and falls. The leading charities for older people, who recently joined forces to form a single charity, are organising a series of events around the country where anyone can get involved. Optical companies and individual practices can also organise their own event to raise awareness of their contribution to falls prevention.

"This is a great opportunity for all those working in the eye care sector to highlight the link between poor vision and falls, as well as the availability of domiciliary eye care services that may help to reduce the risk of falls at home,” said Heather Marshall from the Eye Health Alliance. "

"With over 600 events expected to take place, practitioners from a wide range of organisations including Primary Care Trusts, housing groups, hospitals, libraries and local authorities use National Falls Awareness Day as an opportunity to highlight their falls prevention work. This is especially important as a recent Healthcare Commission report showed that older people are often unaware of what falls services are available to them ."

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to ePolitix.com. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the ePolitix.com service.

As such, ePolitix.com does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.