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Over 1,400 elderly people in Dundee have been emergency admissions after falls over the past three years 6 October 2010 Marlyn Glen has received information from the Scottish Government showing that a total of over 1,400 elderly people in Dundee have been emergency hospital admissions as a result of a fall over the latest three years.( 2007-2010) This equates to, on average, around 490 elderly people over the age of 65 each year. In the latest year 2009-10 , for individual communities in Dundee, the figures have been : West End ( West End, Logie and Blackness, Perth Road, Balgay ) 43 Broughty Ferry ( Broughty Ferry West , Broughty Ferry East, West Ferry, Barnhill ) 90 Lochee ( Lochee, Menzieshill, Charleston ) 50 Kirkton, Downfield Ardler and St. Mary’s 41 Hilltown 15 Douglas 21 Whitfield 12 Fintry 18 Ms. Glen said, "NHS Tayside’s Falls Prevention and Bone Strategy helps to reintegrate back into the community those elderly people who have fallen and to minimise the occurence of further falls through exercise and improvements in bone health. "Falls at home, resulting from conditions such as poorer vision, lesser mobility as well as osteoporosis, can contribute to injuries that might have been prevented. "Elderly people can suffer consequences that are both physical such as fractures and hypothermia, and psychological , such as loss of dignity and independence." Ms. Glen added that the British Geriatric Society had indicated that falls affect almost one in three of those aged over 65 and half of those aged over 80, and that they are a major reason for hospital attendance and admission amongst the elderly. Falls and fragility fractures are both linked with illness and mortality, she said, and the estimated cost of the care of fragility care to health and social services is over £2billion in the UK.
SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT WRITTEN ANSWER Index Heading: Health and Wellbeing Marlyn Glen : To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions there have been of people aged 65 and over in Dundee as a result of falls in each of the last three years for which information is available, broken down by intermediate geographical zone, also expressed as a rate per 1,000 of population. The information requested is shown in the following table: Table 1. Number of hospital admissions for patients aged 65 and over in Dundee as a result of a falls1 for financial years 2007-08 – 2009-10.
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