Falls among over-65s major cause of ambulance call-outs

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) made 42,000 call-outs last year to attend older people who had fallen. Most did not require hospital treatment.

These figures came to light in follow-up research after a study released last month showed that people in deprived areas are four times more likely to call 999 than those in the most affluent ones.

Project lead Chris Boyce, EMAS Director of Business Development and Community Relations, said: “We understood from anecdotal evidence from staff that falls were our number one reason for going out, but we quite shocked by the actual figures.

“At an average cost of £193 per response, it cost us more than £8.1 million in 2006-2007 to attend these patients. Yet less than half (42 per cent) led to a patient journey. Most just needed to be put back to bed.”

Understanding the nature of these incidents

The research also looked at when and where these falls were happening. They were most prevalent during the morning (8-10am) and peaked on Saturdays, while Sundays saw the fewest incidents.

The overwhelming majority were to homes. In a sample of over 2,000 responses to falls among patients 65 and older, only 15.6 per cent were non-residential.

Chris Boyce said: “We are spending a huge amount of money on these emergency call-outs yet the nature of the incidents suggests that these people have underlying health needs that are not being met elsewhere in the health service. They may simply need more social care support or home adaptations to prevent falls.

"We have now begun sharing this research with the nine PCTs we cover across the East Midlands to inform a whole system approach. We have already had a lot of interest with people says thanks for providing the evidence that will enable us to go forward. ”

Download: Falls and older persons – final report (Word, 1.7MB)