Paving the Way for Falls Prevention in Broughty Ferry

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Earlier this week, a sprightly constituent over retirement age contacted me about her unfortunate fall. She had tripped on an uneven stretch of pavement on the western side of Claypotts Road just north of the junction with Brook Street and just south of the railway bridge. As a result, she had broken her nose, and had sustained heavy bruising around her eyes and the rest of her face. Frankly she looked as though she had been mugged or had lost a boxing match. Where she tripped the concrete pathway has sections where the surface is crumbling away and this has made the pavement uneven and over time deeper holes have been developing.

I have reported this to the Roads Maintenance Partnership. 

In the last fortnight, I have reported numerous stretches of roads and pavements in The Ferry which are rutted and/or have potholes. While this usually leads to some filling in of those that staff judge to be the worst, some of the patching does not last very long. I think the Council are losing the battle with stretches of roads and pavements falling into disrepair faster than they can be given a temporary fix.

Uneven pavements and potholes are not only a source of potential danger for members of the public but they are also a costly issue for the NHS.

A report on falls and health, published by the Scottish Government in May 2012 confirms this point:

"With an ageing population, falls and the consequences of falls are a major and growing concern for older people."

"Falls and fractures, in people aged 65 and over, account for over 18,000 unscheduled admissions and 390,500 bed days each year in Scotland."

"In addition, in the over 65 population, falls cases are the largest single presentation to the Scottish Ambulance Service (over 35,000 presentation each year)."

Despite these statistics, falls are not an inevitable consequence of old age. I think the Council needs to take its share of responsibility for the cost to the NHS of falls and a serious reduction in the quality of life of those older persons that sustain more serious injuries such as bone fractures.

Quotations above extracted from:

Up and About or Falling Short? - A Report of the Findings of a Mapping of Services for Falls Prevention in Older People Published by the the Scottish Government, 23 May 2012