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NICE recommended risk assessments 'help prevent falls in elderly'
Carrying out NICE recommended risk assessments among the elderly could limit the numbers who have falls, a review in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggests.
The BMJ clinical review says that, despite evidence showing risk assessments can prevent falls, they are not being regularly carried out.
The report cites NICE guidelines on the assessment and prevention of falls in older people, alongside guidelines from other countries such as America and Australia.
The NICE guideline recommends that older people who are in contact with healthcare professionals should be identified and risk assessed for the likelihood that they will suffer a fall. In particular, they should be routinely asked whether they have fallen in the past year; about the number of falls they have had and what the characteristics of these falls have been.
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