A safer flat after 60

Image: Teleporto.

Most falls at home are ordinary: a rug, a dark corridor, a step into the shower. Before any gadget, walk the flat once in the evening and see where you put a hand out and find nothing.

• One lamp that switches on from the bed, and one in the hall.
• Rugs that stay still, or no rugs. Shoes with a back, not slippers that fall off.
• A rail by the bath or the toilet, fixed to the wall, not a suction cup that lets go when it is wet.
• The medicines and the glasses in the same place every night.

A rail in a rented flat needs the landlord’s yes, the same as any hole in the wall. A tradesperson should price the visit before coming. That conversation is in A plumber or an electrician. Help with washing, meals or a visit at home is a different service, apoio domiciliário, asked through Social Security or the parish council, not bought from a stranger who knocks. The parish certificate of address, if a service asks for it, is the atestado from the junta.

If a fall has already happened, or walking has changed, that is a reason to call the family doctor or SNS 24, not to order a bracelet from an advert.

Checked 24 October 2026. This is not medical, legal or financial advice. The official page wins if it disagrees.