Eye care plays essential role in falls prevention

Around four million older people in the UK do not have regular eye tests, putting themselves at risk of a serious fall, delegates at this week's Dignity and Independence: Transforming eye care for older people conference were told.

Yet UK research indicates that up to half of all people aged over 65 have a visual impairment which can be corrected or improved.

Simply wearing the right spectacle prescription would correct the vision of 17 per cent of those over 65, and 30 per cent of those over 75.

Falls are the most common and serious type of accident among the elderly, leading to loss of confidence, loss of independence, social isolation, activity limitation and, in more severe cases, hip fractures and death.