Home Safety Tips for the Elderly | More Ability

Published: 14 November 2018

There are over 11.8 million people in the UK aged 65+, with 32% living on their own. The most common cause of emergency hospital trips for older people is falls – accounting for 220,000 admissions in 2016.

Whether you’re living by yourself or with your partner, you’ll want to ensure you’re safe in your home. At their worst, slips, trips and falls can be life threatening, but our home safety tips can be easily implemented, and will help you to reduce the risk of hurting yourself.

Stop Rugs from Slipping

Whether you’ve added a rug into your room to keep it warmer, or merely as a decorative piece; rugs are a common culprit of trips. This is because they tend to bunch up, and are prone to slipping and sliding if they’re placed on wooden or laminate flooring – not ideal when you step onto them.

However, if you’re thinking of binning your rug, then hold that thought. To stop them sliding, all you need to do is purchase an anti-slip underlay. They’re pretty cheap, and will keep your rug secure on carpet, vinyl, laminate, wood and tiles.The alternative option is to secure your rug with double sided sticky tape.

Leave Lights On

If you’re prone to a toilet trip in the middle of the night, then leave the lights on in your hallway so you can navigate to the bathroom without accidentally tripping over something.

If you don’t want to leave the lights on all night, then leave a nightlight by your bedside which you can carry with you on your way to the bathroom.

For houses with bathrooms on a different floor to the bedroom, this is especially important – you may want multiple nightlights by the stairs to stop you from falling down.

Tidy Extension Cords

If you don’t have enough wall sockets in your home, then it’s likely you’ll have a couple of extension cords plugged in. However, if you leave them lying around, they can become prime tripping hazards.

Reduce the risk of falling over them by securing extension cords along the wall – you can pick up plastic pegs for a couple of pounds that will do the trick. It’ll also keep your home looking much tidier.

Toilet Seat

If your toilet seat is too low, it can be hard regaining your balance when trying to stand up, causing your legs to give way. Raised toilet seats are approximately 3 – 4 inches higher than a standard toilet, which makes it easier for you to lift and yourself onto, whilst the design looks very discreet.

Alternatively, our powered height toilet seats have rise and tilt capabilities, which are ideal if you have limited mobility.

To further avoid risk of falling, we’d also recommend installing grab rails by the toilet, to give you something secure to put your weight on, whilst lifting yourself off the seat.

Tidy Away Clutter

This seems like an obvious point, but we’re all guilty (some more often than others) of leaving things lying around at some point. However, these create potential hazards for us to trip over.

Get into the habit of tidying things away when you’ve finished, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about falling over.

Wear Non-Slip Shoes

Invest in a sturdy pair of non-slip sole slippers, to stop you from sliding across the floor. There are lots of cheap, comfy slippers available, so you’re sure to find a style that suits you, and meets your budget. With winter approaching, comfy knit slippers, or fur-lined ones can be especially beneficial.

Keep Emergency Numbers Handy

For peace of mind more than anything else, it’s extremely useful to note down emergency numbers and leave them in a prominent place should you or one of your loved ones fall.

This includes an emergency contact number, and the number for your doctor’s office – but if a fall is serious, then you’ll need to call 999. If you’ve had a fall before, consider wearing a personal alarm, which, at the touch of abutton, will call a 24 hour emergency response team, should you have an accident.

As you can see, these home safety tips are easy to implement, but will help to reduce the risk of you falling and injuring yourself in your own home. For more safety tips and tricks – whether it’s in the bathroom or bedroom – head on over to our blog.

More Ability, part of the Passmore Group, is Yorkshires only 5* rated bathroom adaptation company. Specialising in accessible, mobility and disabled bathroom solutions we are extremely proud of the exceptional service we continuously deliver from design right through to installation and after care. Whether you want a future proofed solution or require a more specialist adaptation in order to remain independent at home More Ability can help create a safe space to bathe for you or your loved ones.

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