THERE was an increase in falls in hospitals in Worcestershire in February.

A report presented to a meeting of the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust on Wednesday, March 26 showed 135 falls had been recorded in wards across the county in February – including four which resulted in serious harm such as fractures or broken bones – compared with 100 in the previous month.

Speaking before the meeting at Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, trust chief executive Penny Venables pledged to deal with the problem.

“It’s down to the number of patients coming through and the speed and which we’ve got to process them through A&E and through the wards,” she said. “The majority of them are frail and elderly.

“We’re not just dealing with 70 to 80 year olds any more – we’re dealing with 90 to 100 year olds and all the problems that go with that age group.”

The trust has recorded a consistently high amount of patients visiting A&E over the past few months, leading to a campaign encouraging people planning to visit hospital to consider other options such as a Minor Injury Unit or calling NHS 111.