THE NHS has urged elderly residents across Somerset to take extra care as the cold weather looks set to continue.

With the elderly and frail making up one of the largest demographics requiring A&E facilities, NHS England was warned that proactive measures should be taken to prevent falling over in icy conditions.

The warning comes as health bosses attempt to alleviate the strain on the increasing number of UK hospitals declaring “major incidents”.

William Beckett, CEO of Hip Impact Protection said: “It is clear from the number of hospitals that have declared major incidents that the British public has a crisis on their hands and we need to be more careful than ever to prevent unnecessary injury.

“For the elderly, for whom smaller accidents such as falling can have very serious consequences, it is imperative that they are taking protective measures at home and when walking outside, and that care homes and residential homes are doing the same.

“These can be as small as reducing walking outside to a minimum, ensuring inside flooring is marked and making sure older people are wearing hip protectors to prevent falls resulting in hip fractures.

“Currently, 95% of hip fractures are due to a fall and the NHS manages over 86,000 hip fractures every year, a task that is now not only unmanageable but soon to be impossible.

“With falls being the biggest cause of accidental deaths in the over 75s and 8,000 older people falling every day in the UK, we can’t afford for patients to be waiting for hours to be treated.

“These smaller measures will be life-saving if we can encourage the public to adopt them as soon as possible.”