National Audit of Inpatient Falls – Audit report 2020

The National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) has a new approach which focuses on the continuous audit of the care and management of patients who sustain a hip fracture in an inpatient setting. The new process involves the identification of inpatient hip fractures by the National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD).

This first report of the continuous NAIF focuses on patients in England and Wales who sustained an isolated hip fracture (IHF) between January and August 2019. Data on organisational policy and practice with respect to inpatient fall prevention and management were collected via a facilities audit, and the data from 2018 NHFD were explored to identify differences between IHF and non-IHF processes and outcomes.

The report shows that mortality at 30 days is twice as high in IHF compared to non-IHF. Analysis of the 2018 NHFD data indicates that there is a delay in time to surgery, as well as worse outcomes relating to post-operative mobility, delirium and length of stay.

The report also found high participation levels with full participation from Welsh health boards, very high participation from English acute trusts, and high engagement from English community trusts. An impressive proportion of English mental health trusts registered, despite no previous involvement with NAIF. The submission of cases was also excellent, with almost total completion of data collection.

You can download the report here.

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