Q&A: RSA's Laura Spiers and Rospa’s Becky Hickman

How was the campaign started?

Spiers: When we launched our new corporate social strategy three years ago we were looking at our pillar which is called ‘shaping a smarter tomorrow’ which is around risk education, awareness and behaviour change. When we reflected on the social purpose and social value we can bring to this agenda as an insurer we said ‘we got all this knowledge about risk education, insight and expertise, how can we make it publicly accessible and work with a charitable partner?’. We picked Rospa given their mission around preventing accidental injury and we kicked off with research on the area where we could make the most difference.

We looked at three key targets – under-fives in their home, 17 to 25-year-olds on the road, and over-65s in their home and on the road. What came out of that research was that there are lots going on and targeted at children, lots targeting road safety among young drivers but actually the over-65-year-old community doesn’t really get as much focus, yet the issue of falls and falls prevention is a huge burden both from the point of view of the NHS and the impact on individual’s families and friends in terms of the impact.

We started with building out our resources and fall prevention hub and that’s led us to the campaign piece because we recognise that this is an issue that potentially affects every individual and family around the UK.

What impact does this have on society?

Hickman: One of the main issues that we have is that accidents are such a statistically significant cause of harm that there is this perception that they’re trivial or that nothing can be done to prevent them and actually neither of those things are true.

Falls are the biggest cause of accidental injury in the home. The impact on individuals is significant. Most people will probably have a loved one or a family member who has experienced a fall and they will recognise we are not talking about something that people bounce back from – it’s a long term problem to do with a loss of independence, loss of ability, loneliness, isolation. Preventing falls is crucial from a societal perspective never mind the cost of the NHS it’s a huge burden on the A&E department in particular.

How does this reduce the cost on the NHS?

Spiers: Rospa estimated the cost to the NHS and wider healthcare system for falls at £2.3bn every year, so there is a social benefit in reducing it from a personal perspective in reducing heartache and protecting family and friends but also a wider public and financial benefit to address this issue.

Hickman: In addition, 80% of hospital admissions for accidents are for over 65s as a result of falls, it’s a significant statistic. If we can prevent these interventions and prevent falls in the first place the impact on society will be huge.

How can people get involved?

Hickman: We’ve always been doing a huge amount of work to promote that and we’ve been absolutely thrilled by the uptake that we generated so far. It’s a really simple scheme because what matters is that people are able to come on board, that they do feel empowered and able to be a part of the solution and they do recognise the falls don’t have to happen, they can be a part of preventing them. On our website there’s lots of information, but it takes 20 minutes to become a fall fighter, you could do a little e-learning session [any time] of the day or night or you could donate learning session, or if you prefer interactive [session] then you could join one of the live classrooms

Spiers: It’s about [making sure] those materials are open and accessible to anyone. What we really want to do is get the message out there but that this is an important issue, and, and this advice and guidance is available to help people address it. We’ve tried to take away any barriers, that’s why they’re online awareness session, it’s free to download for employers or charities or schools or universities, whoever it might be to plug into their existing learning management - we’ve done that with our own staff.

What can the rest of the industry or the government do to help?

Hickman: The short term asks for the industry, in particular, is to get on board. We all do a huge amount of training in our workplaces. We all spend time on social media outside of work. This is so simple and easy to pick up and to run with by those channels particularly if you work in insurance - there’s such a commonality of purpose here in terms of risk reduction.

From a government perspective, we always feel strongly that we are able to demonstrate the evidence for why we adopt the interventions that we do and the outcomes that come off the back of them so we’re always looking for this to be pushed up the public agenda for society to look more at prevention rather than just dealing with the aftermath. Rather than [spend] more NHS money on coping strategies [after the fall], the cost-effective way is through prevention. We have been very successful in proving the success of those so we’re very keen to keep this as part of the conversation.