Falls Prevention Services Report

As people age, the chances of suffering a fall increase. This can affect confidence, and balance and make even short trips to the shops or to visit friends a challenge. The impact of a fall on health, well-being, and quality of life is considerable.

From March 2018 to March 2019, we spoke with 668 individuals, carrying out telephone surveys in order to hear from people. Of these 75% had attended Strength & Balance classes only, 12% attended the NHS Falls Clinic only and the remaining 13% attended both.

Overall, service users gave highly positive feedback on both the NHS Falls Clinic Services and the Strength and Balance Classes. The positive impacts of education and gentle exercise were clearly demonstrated by the results.

In addition, the study also found that participation resulted in a great deal of added social value. Participants repeatedly highlighted the social aspects of the services, recounting friendships forged, improvements in mental health, and reducing social isolation. For Physical health a large majority of participants continue to do the exercises at home, reaping greater benefits longer term and further impacting positively upon an individual’s likelihood of falling.

For the Strength & Balance classes, there were some barriers reported around location, language and physical and mental health issues which prevented people from participating in what would have otherwise been a beneficial programme to them.

Given the benefits highlighted by the study, going forward, it may be useful to consider how a greater number of people across the borough could participate and how Strength & Balance classes could improve, specifically around support for service users with Dementia and disabilities, and providing classes for varying levels and abilities

The findings are discussed in more detail in the main body of the report, which is complete with recommendations, areas of good practice, and next steps. The report has been updated to include the formal response from the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (page 79).