Eileen Mitchell describes how the assessment of pre and post-intervention outcome measures helped to prove the effectiveness of a new post designed to help manage falls among older people

Falls are a major cause of disability and mortality in the over-75s: 400,000 people each year attend accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England as a result of accidents, with 14,000 dying annually due to an osteoporotic fracture (DoH 2001). Problems associated with falling include loss of mobility, psychological difficulties, increase in dependency and/or disability, hypothermia, pressure-related injury and infection. The catastrophic consequences of a fall cannot be underestimated.