Falls prevention

Resources for professionals and service providers

The following provides guidelines, clinical tools and consumer resources for falls prevention and management and healthy active ageing for those who work with older persons.

Falls are a common reason for older people presenting to a hospital. Falls can also occur whilst in the hospital or following discharge.

Risk factors

Falls intervention needs to be tailored to the patient based on individual risk factors.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2025) advises that a tailored approach to preventing falls and harm in the hospital setting will consider the following risk factors:

falls risk assessment
continence
dizziness and vertigo
environmental risks
restrictive practices
vitamin D and calcium
balance and mobility
feet and footwear
vision
medicine and medicines review
hip protectors
post-falls management
cognitive impairment
syncope
hearing
osteoporosis
monitoring and observation.

More details on the above strategies can be found in the Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls in Older People: Best Practice Guidelines for Australian Hospitals (Falls Guidelines) 2025.

Good practice

Good practice points identified by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care in Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls in Older People: Best Practice Guidelines for Australian Hospitals (Falls Guidelines) 2025 are:

consider all older people in hospital to be at high risk of falls
consider all people with mobility or cognitive disabilities to be at high risk regardless of age
implement tailored interventions informed by a multifactorial comprehensive assessment and goals of care to systematically address falls risk factors
ensure all health professionals involved in the care of older people receive ongoing education about falls risk and falls prevention
ensure people are provided / have access to nutritious diets
provide / arrange meal assistance and fluids when requested or needed to support nutritional intake and hydration
support behavioural strategies to help regulate sleep-wakefulness cycles and improve sleep quality
minimise disturbing noise and disruptive care practices to optimise sleep duration and quality for all people admitted to hospital.

Standards, guidelines, fact sheets and resources

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare:

Other agencies:

Department of Health Western Australia, Stay on Your Feet Program—Injury Matters Prevention to Recovery
Better Health Channel Victoria—Falls—services for older people
World Health Organisation—Falls
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare—Injury (including falls data)
NPS MedicineWise
NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network
Healthdirect—Older people and falls

Brochures/posters

Stay On Your Feet® is a registered trademark. Please request permission for any use beyond the materials provided.

Clinical tools

In-patient Falls Assessment and Management Plan (PDF 927 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31686)
In-patient Post Fall Clinical Pathway (PDF 2214 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31460)
Post Fall Clinical Flowchart (PDF 209 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31926—DOWNLOAD ONLY)
Residential Care and Multipurpose Health Facility Falls Assessment and Management Plan (PDF 904 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31414)
Residential Care Facility/Multipurpose Health Service Post Fall Clinical Pathway (PDF 213 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31880)
Day Oncology Pressure Injury and Falls Assessment (PDF 1012 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31437)
Renal Dialysis Pressure Injury and Falls Assessment (PDF 1048 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31439)
Community Falls Assessment and Management Plan (PDF 884 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31427)
Sub-Acute Post Fall Clinical Pathway (PDF 704 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY43997)
Paediatric Falls Risk Assessment and Management (PDF 490 kB)

To order the consumer and clinical resources listed above:

Queensland Health staff can order through WINC via a Queensland Health staff member who has WINC access and authority to order resources via credit card.
If external to Queensland Health, you can still order the resources via the WINC website, with the
Username: 1og-statewide and Password: Statewide

Other clinical resources

Falls magnets (JPG 16 kB) (WINC Code: 1NY31923 (LARGE) and WINC Code: 1NYU31923 (SMALL))
Post Falls Clinical pathway falls lanyard (SW983/WINC Code: 1NY36381)
- Post Fall Clinical Pathway—No head injury lanyard card page 1 (JPG 68 kB)
- Post Fall Clinical Pathway—Suspected head injury or unwitnessed fall lanyard card page 2 (JPG 66 kB)

Falls Awareness Month

April No Falls is a national and international campaign to educate and raise awareness of falls prevention with the aim to reduce falls and harm from falls.

The following sites have resources to support a local Falls Awareness Month.

Education and training

For QH Professionals:

Please log into iLearn for the following courses:

Comprehensive Care
Comprehensive Care ieMR Optimisation

For non-QH Professionals:

Interactive Falls illustration—exploring risk factors for falls in hospitals (approximately halfway down the page)
Injury Matters—training and educational material

Videos for clinical settings:

Falls Prevention Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service (YouTube)
Top toileting tips to stay on your feet—Queensland Health
Simple steps to reduce your chance of a fall in hospital—Queensland Health
Patient Handling Videos—developed by the Health, Safety and Wellness Department and Support Services at Townsville Hospital and Health Service

Last updated: 10 March 2026