1971 Five years of the National Audit of Inpatient Falls

Abstract

Abstract Introduction There are around 250,000 inpatient falls in English hospitals each year. Inpatient falls are associated with poor outcomes. Evidence suggests multifactorial assessment and intervention is the most effective way to prevent inpatient falls. There are National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standards for safe post fall management. National audit supports improvement in the quality and safety of clinical care. Methods The National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) began collecting continuous data from all femoral fractures (as identified on the National Hip Fracture Database) in England and Wales from 2019. Prospective documentation review collects data on multifactorial falls risk assessment (MFRA) prior to the femoral fracture as well as immediate post fall management and presents performance indicators related to NICE guidelines/quality standards. Results There are around 2000 inpatient femoral fractures each year. Those with an inpatient fracture have double the 30-day mortality of those who fracture elsewhere, highlighting the vulnerability of this group of patients. There has been improvement in most aspects of MFRA and the proportion of patients checked for injury before moving from the floor has increased from 69 to 77%, use of flat lifting equipment from 22 to 29% and medical assessment within 30mins of the fall from 52 to 60%. Conclusion There have been steady improvements in guideline compliant inpatient fall-prevention and post-fall management, but there is more to do. The programme also produces improvement resources and activities and will be expanding the range injuries covered in the next 2 years.