The charity that saves the NHS £25 million every year

A charity has claimed that the preventative work they do saves NHS Wales £25 million every year.

Care and Repair Cymru is a charity focused on providing these anti-fall adaptations such as, installing strategically placed grab rails, better lighting, and ramps over dangerous steps.

They believe that based on the number of packages delivered last year, they saved the Welsh NHS around £25,000,000 and the Welsh Ambulance Service more than £850,000 due to fewer hospital admissions and ambulance call-outs required.

According to The National Falls Prevention Taskforce: “Falls prevention work not only saves health and social care services millions of pounds each year but it also saves potentially thousands of older people from needing care services.”

The Falls Taskforce is an alliance focused on fall prevention for older people in Wales including Age Cymru, Age Connects Wales, Care & Repair Cymru, and St John’s Ambulance Cymru alongside representatives from all seven health boards.

They are launching a national falls awareness week to further highlight the importance of their work. The week will run from September 16-20, 2024.

To further reduce the risk of falling in the community the Taskforce is launching a leaflet as part of National Falls Awareness week to empower older people with information on what may increase their risks of falling over and how to take preventative action.

Minister for Children and Social Care Dawn Bowden said: “I applaud the invaluable work the National Falls Prevention Taskforce is doing, helping people to live well at home; preventing hospital admissions, and making substantial savings, which can be invested into the NHS to deliver better outcomes for all.”

An investigation taken by Swansea University has found that modifications taken around older people’s homes to make them safer reduced the likelihood of hospital admission from a fall by 17% for people aged 60+.

The NHS website states that around one in three adults aged over 65 and half of people aged over 80 will have at least one fall a year.

A fall

Gina Ayling of Builth Wells fell and injured herself while walking up the steps to her back door. A few days later, her occupational therapist recommended a ramp and a set of rails.

Care & Repair Powys reportedly carried out the installation and, at the same time, helped Ms Ayling to claim additional benefits following a review of her financial situation.

Fall Taskforce chair, Heather Ferguson from Age Cymru, said: ““These community-based interventions to help prevent falls from happening or to reduce their impact make a vital contribution to our health and social care services worth millions of pounds each year.

“But even more importantly, they help thousands of older people to be safe and well so they can have the best experience of later life.”