Patient Safety
Better accident prevention measures can help reduce the number of people who visit our hospitals and A&E departments in the first place. Adam Grinsell explains how RoSPA’s national accident reduction strategy aims to address the major dangers faced by people across their life course RoSPA has been working for over 100 years to change both legislation and attitudes towards accidents, and while there have been such positive changes in this time, there is still much to do to not only to deal with the issues we face with accidents, but to educate the wider population on accident prevention. Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock recently revealed a document titled “Prevention is better than the cure”, which aims to stop health problems from arising in the first place and support people to manage their health problems when they do arise. This is a huge step in the right direction, and we are very much of the hope that this ethos will be extended to the arena of unintentional injury. Treatments and cures have always been the core focus for our health services, yet we know that evidence-based preventative interventions work, and help to drive down the number of people who visit our hospitals and A&E departments in the first place. Despite the huge reductions in workplace and on-road accidents through the 20th century, these reductions have now stalled. Coupled with rises in home and leisure accidents, we now face a reality in which the overall number of fatalities from accidents – and particularly
from falls and accidental poisoning – rose in England in 2013-2016. Hospital admissions are also increasing, with an increase in the number of falls being the most significant contributory factor.
emergency hospital admissions in England per year among people aged over 65. More than 4,500 people in England over the age of 65 were recorded as having died as a result of a fall in 2015. At the other end of the age spectrum, accidental poisoning is the cause of many thousands of children ending up in hospital each year. Due to their inquisitive nature, children under five-years-old are most at risk, with the peak for these type of incidents being at two to three years of age; in fact, poisoning is number three in the five largest causes of accident-related hospital admissions for children under the age of five. On average, 15 under-fives are admitted to hospital each day due to suspected poisoning, with children from the poorest families being three times more likely to be admitted to hospital due to an accident, including accidental poisoning.
Written by Adam Grinsell, acting head of engagement, RoSPA
Prevention is better than cure
Preventing falls Safe and active Injury prevention programmes aimed at falls We know that accidents like falls among over-65s are critical to reducing harm, and poisoning can be prevented. A&E attendances and hospital admissions. During 2016-2018, RoSPA, together with Falls and fragility fractures can many partners, worked on a project result in loss of independence, to produce a national strategy injury and death, and in for England, to serve as a RoSPA’s health service terms call to action for a stepstrateg they are high volume change in the delivery recogn y and costly. of accident prevention i s A&E departments programmes across links be es the treat a disproportionate the country. acciden tween t number of The document, p r e vention and oth unintentional injuries entitled Safe and e r among older people, active at all ages: the pub issues on lic heal and particularly those a national strategy agenda th aged over 70, with to prevent serious accidents in the home accidental injuries (predominantly falls) in England, which was accounting for the greatest launched in October 2018, proportion of these injuries. quantifies and addresses the For those whose injuries are particularly different safety challenges faced across serious, there are 255,000 falls-related the whole life course. E Volume 19.1 | HEALTH BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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