Falls Guidelines (2025) — first revision in 16 years

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) has released the first revision of the Falls Guidelines (2025) (Preventing falls and harm from falls best practice in older people: Best Practice Guidelines) since 2009.

The guidelines have been updated with supporting resources for each of these settings:

• Residential Aged Care Services (RACS)
• Community Care
• Hospitals
   

“For all settings there is an emphasis on implementation of interventions rather than assessment of risk,” said Associate Professor Jasmine Menant — from Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), which worked with ACSQHC to update the guidelines. “For example, in residential aged care, there is stronger evidence to support the ongoing delivery of exercise for fall prevention, and in the community, highlighting different approaches to intervention for people with different levels of risk.”

A leading cause of injury-related hospitalisations in Australia, falls remain a major safety and quality risk and have the potential to cause significant harm to older people in each setting, with the revised guidance able to be used by health professionals to work with people at risk of harm from falls — to reduce risk factors and tailor interventions for a person-centred approach.

Providing strategies relevant to falls and fall injury prevention, the guidelines provide good practice points and recommendations based on expert opinion and evidence on best practice for residential aged care, community care and hospitals. “We’re really pleased to see these updated guidelines released and ready to be applied,” said Menant, who was on the team that worked on the five-year project.

Topics include: balance and mobility, cognitive impairment, continence, dizziness and vertigo, environment, fall risk assessment, feet and footwear, hearing, hip protectors, medicines, monitoring and observation, osteoporosis, post-fall management, restrictive practices, syncope, vision, and Vitamin D and calcium.

Resources for Australian RACS include:

• the Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls in Older People: Best Practice Guidelines for Australian Residential Aged Care Services (Falls Guidelines for RACS), which offers a nationally consistent approach to preventing falls and harm from falls in residential aged care settings — aiming to improve the quality and safety of care for older people;
• the Preventing falls in residential aged care services - Fact sheet, which outlines recommendations for preventing falls in hospital as well as the major changes to the 2025 Falls Guidelines.
   

There is also a guide and fact sheet for community care, and a guide and fact sheet for hospitals (guide and fact sheet).

“Falls have a big impact on individuals, as the consequences can be life-changing, from injury, to early admission into residential aged care or even mortality,” Menant said. “They also have a big impact on our economy, with falls of Australians aged over 65 years old costing the health system more than $2.8 billion annually.”

A copy of the new guidelines — and supporting resources for each setting — is available to download here, via the ACSQHC Falls Prevention website.

The evidence base for the revised Falls Guidelines was formed through collaboration with NeuRA and the Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society, and a 2024 public consultation provided important feedback from the sector, with subject matter experts serving to refine the guidance.

Image credit: iStock.com/mixetto