Fall-related injuries in Bay of Plenty cost $127 million, highest in past five years

The cost to help people recover from fall-related injuries in the Bay of Plenty in 2022 was the highest it’s been over the past five years.

Falls are the most common cause of injury in New Zealand, accounting for 39 per cent of all ACC claims and a cost of $1.8 billion last year after it accepted 749,610 total claims.

In a bid to address the problem, ACC launched an app, called Nymbl, designed to help seniors stay on their feet.

ACC injury prevention leader James Whitaker said most falls were preventable and the organisation wanted to “dispel the idea that falling over is part of the ageing process”.

In 2022, there were 54,814 fall-related injury claims in the Bay of Plenty, coming at a cost of $127 million — the highest cost of the past five years.

The region registered the fifth-highest number of claims for the country, led by Auckland (235,881), Canterbury (95,202), Waikato (81,065), and Wellington (63,810).

The total cost of fall-related injuries over the past six years nationwide was $8.6b.

Fall-related injuries most commonly occur in the home, and women were slightly more likely to be injured by falling than men, an ACC statement said.

Every year one in three people over 65 injure themselves in a fall, rising to one in two once they reach 80. Last year, 172,115 people aged 65 and over had a fall-related ACC claim.

Whitaker said ACC wanted to help Kiwis “stay on their feet” and enjoy their independence.

In 2022, there were 54,814 fall-related injury claims in the Bay of Plenty. Photo / Shane Wenzlick

“Falls have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life, especially if it results in a fracture, so we want to do what we can to prevent them from happening in the first place.

“We want to dispel the idea that falling over is part of the ageing process.

“We’re committed to reducing falls for older people in their homes and community.”

Nymbl was launched as part of ACC’s older people’s programme, Live Stronger for Longer, which focused on preventing falls and fractures.

ACC said in a statement research showed falls happen when a person is distracted and claimed that using Nymbl could improve a person’s balance by 30 per cent.

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It ran the Nymbl pilot from August 2020 to September 2021 and 15,363 people aged 55 years and over registered.

The users completed more than 300,000 training sessions and over 100,000 education sessions.

A total of 87 per cent said they were likely to recommend the Nymbl balance training programme to a friend.

The statement said research showed 71 per cent of people who used the Nymbl app for 21 days improved their 30-second sit-to-stand balance test.

The app can be downloaded from the Google Play or Apple app stores.

Falls by the numbers

• In 2022, there were 54,814 fall-related injury claims in the Bay of Plenty and they came at a cost of $127 million to help people recover;
• Falls are the most common cause of injury in New Zealand, accounting for 39 per cent of all ACC claims;
• The top five regions for fall-related injury claims in 2022 were Auckland (235,881), Canterbury (95,202), Waikato (81,065), Wellington (63,810) and Bay of Plenty (54,814);
• Fall-related injuries most commonly occur in the home, and women are slightly more likely to be injured by falling than men;
• Every year one in three people over 65 injures themselves in a fall, rising to one in two once they reach 80.