Over half of all major trauma here is sustained from falls of less than two metres.

That is according to a new Major Trauma Audit annual report for 2018.

Some 78% of these so-called 'low falls' also happened in the home.

It found that 46% of major trauma is sustained in patients over the age of 65 years.

While 20% of patients required transfer to another hospital for ongoing care.

It also said that many patients continue to be brought to hospitals that do not have the services on site to manage their injuries.

In 2018, of the 273 patients who required a CT brain scan, 48% received it within one hour.

This is an increase of seven percentage points since 2017.

The audit also found that older major trauma patients have more complex medical needs.

The report showed that they do not receive the same level of response as younger patients with the same severity of injury and have "considerably worse outcomes."

Only 59% of major trauma patients were discharged directly home following their hospital admission.

The report was launched at the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) annual conference at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland on Wednesday.

Dr Conor Deasy is clinical lead for the Major Trauma Audit: "Our audit shows that when it comes to major trauma, walking in the front door of your home can be more dangerous than walking out of your front door.

"The majority of injuries are being caused by falls at home.

"These are often preventable with many of the risks being in our control.

"Other findings show our system of trauma care in Ireland is sub-optimal - the best system is described in the Trauma System for Ireland report published by the Department of Health in 2018.

"We look forward to the imminent implementation of the recommendations of the report and the realisation of the benefits that such an integrated system for the management of trauma patients has been shown to produce in other countries in terms of lives saved and disability reduced.''