A qualitative study of primary healthcare professionals’ views of falls prevention
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

A qualitative study of primary healthcare professionals’ views of falls prevention

Suhail Amin Tarafdar General practitioner, West Midlands, England
Nichola Pugh Senior officer, School of Public Health, University of Birmingham, England
Alison Doyle Service delivery lead/specialist nurse, Birmingham Public Health, England
Debbie Bowen Officer, Population Health and Care, Birmingham Public Health, England
Kathy Lee Senior officer, Public health nurse, Birmingham Public Health, England
Julie Law Senior officer, Public health nurse, Birmingham Public Health, England
Hashum Mahmood Public health manager, Birmingham City Council Public Health and Staffordshire University, England

Falls in older people are a major cause of hospital admissions. Primary healthcare professionals play an important role in preventing falls, although they experience barriers to achieving this. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify what a sample of primary healthcare professionals in the UK city of Birmingham perceived as barriers to and aids to preventing falls. Analysis of the results identified several major themes in two categories: challenges and opportunities. Challenges included lack of integration between primary and secondary care, poor awareness of services and complex referral pathways. Opportunities included recognition of falls as a priority, risk stratification and improvement of the health of older people.

Primary Health Care. doi: 10.7748/phc.2018.e1429

Citation

Tarafdar S, Pugh N, Doyle A et al (2018) A qualitative study of primary healthcare professionals’ views of falls prevention. Primary Health Care. doi: 10.7748/phc.2018.1429

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double‑blind review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

suhail.tarafdar@nhs.net

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 09 October 2018

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