Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust has been placed in the top 5 of 170 Trusts in the first national audit of falls.  This is based on the overall clinical score for care of hip fractures and non hip fractures (i.e. wrist or pelvis) treated for at the hospital.

The national audit of falls and bone health for older people, commissioned by the Healthcare Commission, is based on evidence based practice including NICE guidelines. The audit took place between 1 April and 29 June 2007.

Dr Arianayagam, Consultant physician in the care of the elderly, explained, “Falls are the commonest reason for an older person to attend the Emergency Department (ED) and for being admitted to hospital. Hip fractures are often the result and are the commonest cause of accident-related death. The care provided to patients with hip fractures who are admitted to hospital is used to assess the quality of medical care in an acute hospital. One admission will involve many departments and clinicians including the Emergency Department, the orthopaedic team  as well as the orthopaedic-geriatric liaison team who coordinate rehabilitation. Our excellent result in this audit was achieved through the dedicated work carried out by all staff members at all levels.”

Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital admits between 200 and 250 patients with hip fractures every year. The audit highlighted the following for Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital:

• 59% of patients spent less than 2 hours in ED (vs. national average 20%)

• 94% of patients underwent pressure ulcer risk assessment (vs. national average of 46%)

• 100% of patients were admitted and treated on a specialist orthopaedic ward (vs. national average 79%)

• 88% patients admitted had treatment to prevent blood clots (vs. national average 79%)

• 100% of operations were carried out by a trained specialist doctor (vs. national average 83%)

• 73% patients had a multi-disciplinary assessment within 7 days (vs. national average 39%)

• 94% patients underwent ortho geriatric assessment (vs. national average 35%)

• The average length of stay was 12 days compared to a national average of 16 days

• 75% patients received treatment for osteoporosis with calcium, vitamin D and other bone strengthening medications (vs. national average 60%)

• 75% patients received falls prevention information (vs. national average 20%)

Dr Arianayagam, added, “We provide a falls and medical review clinic and encourage our GPs to refer appropriate patients to this. In this clinic, patients at risk of falls or who have had fractures in the past are given advice and support on how best to avoid having a fractured hip in the future.”