GREATER investment into physiotherapy could save the NHS in Worcestershire more than £1.8m annually while preventing 1,245 falls in the county every year, health experts have claimed.

Figures released by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) this week showed improving access to physio-led services preventing falls could save £275m a year across England as a whole.

The organisation also warned failing to invest in physiotherapy will mean the amount of patients needing to be admitted to care homes in South Worcestershire will increase by 19.2 per cent by 2020.

A spokesman from NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group – the body responsible for organising and paying for health services in the area – said the organisation would be making further investment into a new scheme preventing falls across the region in the 2015-16 financial year.

“This will support the Worcestershire Falls Strategy with a rapid response service as an alternative to the ambulance service,” he said.

“The service will be available for South Worcestershire patients who have fallen and who require urgent physical assistance.

“This will be a 24-hour, seven day a week service which will help to reduce hospital admissions and assist older people to maintain their independence at home for as long as they wish, and are able.”

In August 113 falls were reported at the three sites run by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital.

Although this was up from 93 in July, only one of these resulted in serious harm and overall the amount of falls across the three sites has dropped significantly over the past two years, with 567 reported between September 2013 and August 2014 compared with 1,640 in the previous 12 months.

A trust spokesman said the organisation had put a number of measures in place to keep the figures as low as possible, including a dedicated steering group and introducing a nominated falls champion responsible for promoting safety and training nursing staff at each ward.

Special fall monitors have also been installed in bathrooms in some wards.

According to the CSP every £1 spent on physiotherapy will save £1.50 through savings made as a result of patients not having to be treated for preventable falls.

The organisation’s chief executive Professor Karen Middleton said: “Falls are not an inevitable part of the ageing process.

“They are often avoidable and investing in services can prevent these potentially devastating accidents.”