1 in 4 over-65s keep falls at home a secret from family, survey says
A quarter of older people who suffer falls at home keep it a secret from their family, a survey has indicated.
A study of 2,000 over-65s found one in four have fallen, with one in four of those not telling anyone about it.
Anthropos, a care monitoring company that commissioned the research, said it suggests hundreds of thousands of people are concealing their falls every year.
People are more likely to fall as they get older due to factors such as muscle weakness, poor balance and visual impairment.
Government guidance to health and care professionals, released earlier this year as part of a prevention campaign, said a third of over-65s, and half of over-80s, fall at least once a year. Falls are also the number one reason for A&E hospital visits.
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It added the annual cost of fragility fractures as a result of falls is £4.4bn a year, including £1.1bn in subsequent social care costs and £2bn for repairing hip fractures. Unaddressed fall hazards in the home, meanwhile, are estimated to cost the NHS in England £435m a year.
The survey also found three in 10 people overall had concealed support needs – also including changes in toilet habits and forgetfulness – from loved ones.
Of those, 39% said they didn’t want to be a burden, 26% said they could deal with an issue themselves and 16% didn’t want to be labelled “vulnerable”.
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Jim Patience, CEO of Anthropos, said: "It is extremely worrying that a quarter of over-65s are experiencing falls – and a quarter of these people don’t pass this essential care information on to a loved one or carer.
“Practically, it means as many as 686,000 older people are concealing falls each year.
“We hope adults of all ages consider how these findings may support gentle, sensitive conversations with the older people in their lives about all care matters, from falls to forgetfulness."
