A rapid response falls service – a new solution to a growing problem

Abstract

Background Falls are frequent in older people and are the primary cause of injury in adults aged 65+. Falls are associated with high mortality, morbidity and immobility. Many people who fall become frequent fallers, increasing the risk of serious injury; subsequently falls prevention is an NHS priority. A new rapid response falls service comprising of a Paramedic and Occupational Therapist was launched on 30th November 2018 but no evidence exists to determine the clinical or cost effectiveness of this intervention. This research aims to: Evaluate the rate of hospital admission for patients who pass through the intervention Evaluate the cost effectiveness of the intervention. Determine the prevalence of risk factors for falling in the study group & determine any differences between those admitted to hospital and those who are not Methods This study is an observational, prospective cohort study and aims to recruit all patients who pass through the intervention who meet the eligibility criteria. Calculations indicate a sample size of 677. With informed consent, we will collect anonymised data relating to each patient, their care episode and ambulance despatch data. These data will answer the aims of this study and provide detail on how various patient groups differ. Research ethics committee and HRA approval has been granted. Results Interim results will be presented in the form of graphs, frequencies, percentages and mean values to demonstrate the rate of hospital admission, cost effectiveness of the intervention and disease prevalence for the study group. A narrative will contextualise findings to date and generate discussion. We will provide the rate of consent, dissent and withdrawal for the cohort. Conclusions A summary of findings to date will be provided as well as implications for patients and the NHS. Limitations of this work will be discussed and opportunities for future research highlighted., https://emj.bmj.com/content/36/10/e5.3 This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2019-999abs.10