One of the most common and yet serious problems older people face is falling. According to Help the Aged, “Falls experienced by older people are more common among those with a longstanding illness or disability and the injuries sustained are generally more serious than those experienced by younger persons.” An increasingly older population, many of them living alone in their own homes, presents health and social care professionals with a real challenge.
National data on all fractures shows the following picture:

• 310,000 fractures per year cost £1.7billion [Department of Health, NSF for Older People 2001]
  
  
• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 12 men over 50 years will sustain a spine, hip or wrist fracture [Tameside MBC]
  
  
• 50% of all hip fractures will lose their ability to live independently [Eddy DM et al, 1998]

The risk of falling can be greater for those who are inactive, on medication, and those who live alone. Furthermore, it has been shown that falling just once inhibits future mobility which in turn increases the risk of further falls. This is primarily due to the fear of not being found in the event of a fall which then leads to self imposed immobility. In many cases, it is the lack of confidence that reduces mobility which leads to an even greater risk of falling.

Many older people at risk of falling have a pendant alarm that allows contact with the community alarm centre. The problem is that many people do not have them on their person 24 hours every day and are therefore not protected.

WristCare and the automatic alarms remove the fear of not being found. The independent user surveys show that most clients are very happy to wear the ‘watch-like’ WristCare and their confidence is significantly improved. The use of WristCare at Tameside helped the falls team achieve a 70% reduction in falls.