Falls is a major cause of harm of elderly patients in hospitals, studies have reported falls rates between 3 and 5 falls per 1000 occupied bed days, with falls with injury resulting in increased cost associated with increased length of stay1.
In 2013 the 4 wards within Medicine for the Elderly at the Southern General, reported 625 inpatients falls, 108 resulting in injury, 6 significant harm, head injuries and long bone fractures – this resulted in 2 deaths!
In order to drive improvement in this area we adopted the national SPSP aim to reduce falls by 25% and falls with harm by 20% by December 2015.