This is not another one of those "we have too many days" blogs, even though we do have a day for every stupid little thing. This is a blog once again to raise the awareness of politically correctness gone a bit wrong and continuing to spend public money on common sense issues.The following story appeared on the Hastings Observer website today:
Pensioners to get advice to prevent bus falls
Pensioners in Hastings are to be given expert advice this week to cut the number of falls on buses.
As part of National Falls Awareness Day (Tuesday June 23) local people are being invited to head down to either outside Debenhams in the town centre or Sainsbury's supermarket in St Leonards.
Now correct me if i'm wrong, yes there is an issue of elderly and frail people falling over on buses and seriously injure themselves, and i'm not saying lets play down the issue and not support these people. But is it really nessacary to hold such an event, payed for out of the NHS budget which is public money for something which you could basically put an advertisement on the bus saying "Press the bell but Don't stand up until the bus stops"...simple as that job done. What need is there for there to be a special day for it, and then spend what is probably hundreds pounds on getting experts down, paying these experts to tell everyone something that should be common sense and could be done with cheaper and easier ways.
Especially when today it was revealed that after the success of the Hands of the Conquest Maternity campaign, we now risk losing our A&E Department. How about putting the money into that. This government and country have gone politically correctness mad, and they're spending money on the little issues rather than trying to sort out the bigger picture.
The bigger picture, adam, is that falls cause death, permanent disability and perhaps most pertinent to your blog, a huge cost to the NHS. Think about it: you've got the ambulance and paramedics, A&E staff, very possibly an operation, time spent on a hospital ward, nurses, surgeons, doctors, later on time in an intermediate bed doing rehab (thats physical rehab rather than drugs), then when you get home you're visited by physios for more rehab, nurses to check on any op sites/wounds, GP and surgeon follow ups, oh and you get this team come round, they're called falls prevention. On the side you might require a care package from social carem either short or long term.
ReplyDeleteBalance the cumulative effect of these falls (many of which are perfectly preventable) against a one-off education drive which is likely to see hundreds of potential fallers in one day. Add to this that public health education is part of the basis for the NHS and that without it we as a society would be less aware of the risks of things like obesity, smoking etc.
Considered as a whole an education day is economically a pretty good way of reaching out to a lot of people and making them think about their actions and how they might impact on their health. On a holistic level it's also pretty good for society to have more older people who are healthy and risk aware, as it'll enable us to challenge stereotypes of aging.
Basically...you're wrong ;)
Yes OK, to some extent I agree with you. But surely what they're teaching is common sense?
ReplyDeleteI'm not necessarily wrong, and I think you're wrong for telling me that. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, which might not necessarily be wrong.
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