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Reducing April ‘Falls’
28 March 2008
Hunter New England Health Chief Executive Dr Nigel Lyons will open the Falls Injury Prevention Forum in Newcastle on Monday 31 March, pointing out some startling figures about the impact of falls injuries.
Dr Lyons said every day there are about 165 older people presenting to one of Hunter New England Health’s Emergency Departments following a fall. Each year, as many as 14 of these people will die from complication of their fall.
He said falls injuries account for about 20 per cent of the presentations to local emergency departments in people aged over 65 years, and a lot of this is preventable.
"With our ageing population, we know that falls injuries will reach epidemic proportions unless we act now to prevent falls," Dr Lyons said.
"At this rate, we will need 800 additional hospitals beds and 1200 residential aged care beds in the next 40 years in NSW, just to cater for the expected increase in falls injuries.
"As a consequence of these realities, the NSW State Plan and the NSW Health Plan has identified the prevention of falls injuries as everybody’s business," he said.
The Forum is being held as part of the celebrations to mark the first ever NSW Health April Falls Day, with the Hunter New England Health Forum kicking off the day before the official April Falls Day on 1 April.
Dr Lyons said the purpose is to encourage all health workers to consider falls risk assessment as part of the care we give to all people aged over 65 years.
In 2007, Hunter New England Health released its Falls Injury Prevention Implementation Plan, which reflects the need for a wide range of service providers to engage in prevention.
"This includes our clinicians, residential aged care facilities, general practitioners (GPs), community care providers and businesses. As is the case with most health challenges in front of us, we need to have a collective response," Dr Lyons said.
"Today’s Forum is an early result of the work of the Implementation Working Group who are working across health facilities, residential aged care and community settings to bring these plans to fruition," he said.
Dr Lyons commended the 175 forum participants from across the wider Hunter New England Health area for their commitment to helping to reduce the personal and financial burden of falls and fall injury in older people.
During the morning a range of speakers will provide participants with information on topics including:
· The NSW Falls Program - Lorraine Lovitt, NSW Falls Leader, Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC)
· Putting Falls Management into Practice in HNE Health- Patsy Bourke, HNE Health Falls Injury Prevention Coordinator
· Managing the Falls Journey – various speakers providing case studies that meet/do not meet best practice guidelines
The afternoon will host three concurrent sessions for people working in hospital, residential aged care facilities or community settings. The groups will discuss issues ranging from best practice to minimise falls in hospital, community settings and nursing homes, Vitamin D and calcium intake, rehabilitation and the role of physical activity, as well as many other topics.
Contact: Kay Cope
Phone: 6776 9817
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