A RADICAL approach to the problem of preventing falls in the elderly pioneered in the North-East is spreading around the country.

When the so-called faints and falls unit was set up at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary in 1991 it saw about 100 patients a year and was the first of its kind in the UK.

Thirteen years on, the clinic sees 3,200 patients a year and is one of 40 similar units throughout the UK.

By treating mostly elderly patients with a history of faints and falls before a serious injury occurs, the unit saves the NHS thousands of pounds.

But more importantly, it prevents the pain, misery and sometimes premature death associated with falls.

Professor Rose Anne Kenny, of Newcastle University, who has run the RVI clinic since it was set up, suspected that many falls were due to undiagnosed problems and could be prevented.

Investigations of patients with a history of falls showed that many would benefit from a heart pacemaker or an adjustment to their medication.

In a small number of younger patients, the unit was also able to identify individuals who were at risk of sudden death due to an undiagnosed but treatable malformation of the heart.

The Newcastle centre takes patients from the Northern region but often gets inquiries from all over the UK.

Prof Kenny is pleased the approach developed at the RVI is spreading around the country.

"There are about 40 now and there were none ten years ago so we must be doing something right," she said.

A year ago, a Citizen's Jury set up on Tyneside to look at ways of improving the NHS recommended that every hospital should set up a multi-discipinary falls unit.