Call to improve toddlers’ home safety
BBC News | Adam Brimelow | Health correspondent | 21 November 2015
Emergency doctors and safety campaigners have called for a national scheme to help prevent injuries to toddlers in their own homes.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) say this would make a “huge difference”.
They argue it would reduce pressure on A&E and save money for the NHS.
Public Health England says it is supporting health visitors in their work to prevent accidents.
Bumps and tumbles can be a lot of fun for toddlers, particularly in a safe, controlled environment.
But under-fives are particularly prone to injuries in and around the home, resulting in nearly half a million visits to emergency departments in England each year.
Recent data from Oxfordshire – highlighted by the two organisations – suggests that in about one in five attendances, there is a “threat to life or limb and/or severe pain”.
