1895 Three-year nationwide analysis of falls risk prescribing for over 65 care home and non-care home patients

Abstract

Abstract Introduction In 2021 the NHS Business Services Authority Data Science team openly published the first comprehensive nationwide analysis of over 65 care home versus non-care home prescribing (https://nhsbsa-data-analytics.shinyapps.io/estimated-prescribing-patterns-for-care-home-patients/). The analysis has been expanded to include three years of prescribing data and key falls risk prescribing metrics, offering new insight into falls risk prescribing for the over 65s in England. Method Patient address information from 800m prescription forms was matched against 35m Ordnance Survey Address Base addresses. Patient addresses from prescription forms were classified as belonging to a care home or otherwise. Prescribing metrics around volume, cost, polypharmacy and falls risk were generated, with falls risk metrics informed by the STOPPFall study drug groups (https://www.prescqipp.info/umbraco/surface/authorisedmediasurface/index?url=%2fmedia%2f6019%2f300-medication-and-falls-20.pdf). These metrics were the mean number of falls risk medicines and proportion of patients prescribed three or more falls risk medicines within a given month. Results Over 65 care home patients received more prescribing of falls risk drugs than non-care home patients, whilst the proportion of care home patients on three or more falls risk drugs within a given month was double that of non-care home patients. Nearly 40% of care home patients aged 65-69 were prescribed three of more falls risk drugs within a given month, far more than both older care home patients and non-care home patients. Falls risk prescribing metrics displayed a great deal of variation by ICS and Local Authority. Conclusion Aside from headline figures and key findings, the analysis (due for public release in September 2023) allows granular analysis of over 65 falls risk prescribing, by patient age band, gender, geography and care home setting. The exploratory nature of the analysis lends itself to further investigation by healthcare analysts and clinicians, with the aim to gather feedback, iterate and expand the content annually.