PCTs in spotlight on Falls Awareness Day

One in five PCTs and NHS Trusts are failing to establish proper auditing of falls in elderly people, it was claimed this week.

With optometrists seen as vital to help reduce such accidents - which cost the country £981m annually - the results of a new survey has renewed the call for better monitoring of falls.

As practitioners around the country joined in this week's National Falls Awareness Day, the survey warned that many trusts have stalled in their progress towards a national standard of care for elderly people in relation to accidents.

Help the Aged staged the first ever awareness focus day for falls on Tuesday (July 19). It attracted Parliamentary support, as well as over 250 local events organised by health professionals eager to emphasise the injury and cost of elderly people having accidents.

Publicity surrounding the campaign included the need for those at risk to have regular eye