Falls on hospital wards costing NHS at least £2.3 billion a year

A major national audit by the Royal College of Physicians has found that at least 675 patients have falls on NHS wards every day, many of which are preventable and caused by patients being unsteady from medication or not having the use of a walking frame.

The audit found that there were 246,425 falls on NHS wards in the year 2015/16 and that many hospitals were failing to take basic steps to prevent them.

52 per cent of trusts admitted not carrying out medication checks to ensure drugs were not causing patients to be unsteady on their feet. 48 per cent did not check patients’ vision, and 29 per cent said patients were not given walking aids when admitted. 81 per cent did not check blood pressure on admission (low blood pressure increases the risk of falling). Furthermore, one in five trusts were not making sure call bells were within patients’ reach.

The Royal College of Physicians’ Dr Shelagh O’Riordan, said “Our results show that although there are areas of really good care, and significant improvements have been made by some hospitals, many hospitals are still not doing everything they can to prevent falls.

“I hope this audit can help clinical teams work towards reducing the number of falls currently happening in hospitals in England and Wales.”

She added “Research has shown that when staff such as doctors, nurses and therapists work as a team, they can reduce falls by 20 to 30 per cent.”

Caroline Abrahams of the charity Age UK, said “For an older person, a serious fall in hospital can slow their recovery at best and threaten their survival at worst, so everything possible needs to be done to prevent them and keep older patients safe.

“The right assessments, conducted on admission, are a crucial component in preventing falls among older people and it is worrying that so many hospitals are not carrying them out in a timely manner or sometimes at all.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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