The Reality Behind the Numbers
In the UK, falling is painfully common among older adults: one in three people aged 65 and over experiences a fall each year and this risk climbs to one in two for those aged 80 and above. That means, right now, hundreds of thousands of older people are at rise of an event that can change their lives in an instant.
Digging deeper, there are approximately 3.2 million people over 80 in the UK and if about half of them fall each year, that’s around 1.6 million falls annually just in that age group. Alarmingly, these falls often result in serious outcomes: one in five falls among people over 80 requires a hospital visit and even among those ages 75-79, one in ten falls ends in hospital care.
In clinical settings, the picture is no less concerning. In English Hospitals alone, there are roughly 247,000 inpatient falls each year, a challenge that further burdens the NHS and threatens patient safety.
Capturing Falls & Preventing Them
Recognising and responding to a fall promptly is vital but it’s only half the battle. Prevention should always come first. Detecting a fall after the fact can certainly reduce harm, but preventing slips, trips or stumbles before they happen protects dignity, mobility and independence.
The good news is that falls are not an inevitable part of aging. Many risk factors like better lighting, grab rails and environment modifications have a proven track record in reducing falls.
Yet, even when prevention measures are in place, unexpected incidents can still occur. That’s where smart detection tools are vital, not just to respond rapidly, but to learn when and how falls happen, enabling better preventive strategies for the future.
Smart Solutions from Porters Care: Prevent Before You Detect
At Porters Care, we believe in harnessing technology to shift the focus upstream, from reacting to reacting well and proactively preventing. Here are some of our standout solutions that support this philosophy:
Imagine a lamp that not only lights up when movement is detected but supports natural sleep rhythms, senses when someone gets out of bed and alerts caregivers instantly in case of a fall, all without compromising privacy. The Nobi Smart Lamp does just that. With AI-powered optical sensing, automatic lighting, bed exit alerts and circadian rhythm support, it catches subtle cues before missteps happen and instantly responds if they do.
At Hartland House, this technology has shown real-world impact: within just five months of installing Nobi, falls dropped by 84%, 64% of fall incidents, which previously went unnoticed were captured and the average response time fell dramatically from 57 minutes to under 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Sentinare Smart Activity Sensor brings discreet, privacy safe monitoring using stick-figure streaming and advanced detection capabilities, even in the dark. With custom activity zones, night-vision, heat map analytics and sensitive fall detection (even for slow descents), Sentinare empowers caregivers with actionable insights before incidents escalate.
There’s also our Vitalerter system, which identifies early warning signs and bed exit activity, helping to head off possible falls before they happen.
Each of these platforms reinforces a shared goal: pre-empting danger by understanding behaviour, detecting subtle warning signs and ensuring caregivers are alerted in time, all while maintaining the individual’s dignity and privacy.
Why Prevention and Detection Together?
Think of prevention and detection as two sides of the same coin. Prevention catches the environmental hazards, mobility declines, or changes in routine early. Detection acts as a safety net when those measures fall short. Together, they form a robust safety system that recognises falls not just as isolated incidents but signals, opportunities to better understand and protect.