The human cost of falling includes distress, pain, injury, loss of confidence, loss of independence and mortality.
Falling also affects the family members and carers of people who fall.
Falls are estimated to cost the NHS more than £2.3 billion per year.
In West Sussex there were 4,495 emergency hospital admissions for falls related injuries in 2016/17.
Hip fractures are a common and serious injury resulting from a fall and significantly reduce independence and increase the risk of mortality. There were 1,240 admissions for hip fractures in West Sussex in 2016/17
Therefore falling has an impact on quality of life, health and healthcare costs.
To try and find a solution, “World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management for Older Adults: A Global Initiative” were published in September 2022.
These guidelines were developed by the World Falls Task Force, which assembled 96 multidisciplinary experts from 39 countries across 5 continents, with representation from 36 scientific and academic societies.
To manage falls effectively, we need to be thinking about multidomain interventions tailored to individual’s risks factors and engaging people’s beliefs, attitudes and priorities about falls.
Effective falls management relies on several factors:
• Multifactorial assessments
• Multidomain interventions
• Technology
• Hydration and Nutrition
Technology:
There are numerous technologies available to help prevent and manage falls. Please download our brochure:
Falls Prevention
Hydration:
Dehydration is often a contributory factor leading to falls in the elderly.
Studies have shown that 37.9% of older adults with falls (of the 30,634 patients studied) were dehydrated.
Exercise:
There are a lot of online opportunities which can be an excellent choice to do instead of, or as well as, in-person activities.
The Healthy Lifestyles Team has resources on our
You Tube channel as well as Active for Life Zoom sessions.