Medicines & Falls

The following resources have been developed to support those involved in prescribing or reviewing medicines in primary care. Several medicines can cause or contribute to falls. Medication review in people at risk of falls is often not straight forward as people will often have multiple co-morbidities, be older and/or be living with frailty hence medicines use in this population requires a balance between the risks and benefits of multiple treatments.

The British Geriatrics Society are the only Society in the UK offering specialist expertise in the wide range of healthcare needs of older people. They have a multidisciplinary membership, including consultant geriatricians, nurses, GPs, old age psychiatrists, allied healthcare professionals, and researchers. Thy have assembled a list of helpful resources to guide clinicians on medicines management and deprescribing in older adults.

The following resource suggests areas that anyone reviewing medicines for people at risk of falls might want to think about as part of this review.