Falls prevention for older parents

How common this actually is

NICE, the body that sets NHS clinical guidance, puts a number on something families often treat as bad luck: around a third of people aged 65 and over fall at least once a year, rising to around half of people aged 80 and over.¹ In 2019/20, falls among the over-65s caused about 234,800 emergency hospital admissions in England, two-thirds of them in people aged 80 and over.¹ After a hip fracture specifically, the 1-year mortality rate is 31%.¹ None of this means a fall is inevitable. It means it is common enough to plan for rather than react to.

What actually causes falls

It is rarely one thing. NHS guidance lists the usual contributors: muscle weakness that comes with age, conditions affecting balance or mobility such as arthritis, stroke or Parkinson's disease, low blood pressure, side effects from medication, problems with eyesight or hearing, and dementia.² Age UK adds poorly controlled diabetes, alcohol, out of date glasses prescriptions, and simply becoming less active, which weakens the muscles that would otherwise catch a stumble.³ Several of these compound each other, so a parent who is a little unsteady, a little sedentary, and on three or four medications is carrying more risk than any one factor alone suggests.

The home hazards worth fixing this week

This is the least medical, most effective part, and NHS and Age UK guidance agree closely on the list:²³

• Clear clutter and trailing wires from walkways, especially the route to the bathroom at night.
• Secure or remove loose rugs and mats, or fit non-slip backing.
• Fit grab rails by the bath, shower and any external steps.
• Use a non-slip mat in the bath or shower.
• Improve lighting, particularly on the stairs and landing, motion-activated night lights help for the walk to the bathroom in the dark.
• Check footwear: well-fitting, low-heeled, non-slip shoes or slippers, not loose ones or socks alone on hard flooring.
• If there's a pet underfoot a lot, a bell on its collar is a genuinely useful, low-cost fix.

A council home safety check can do this assessment properly rather than by guesswork, and NICE recommends exactly this: a home hazard assessment using a validated tool, usually arranged through an occupational therapist.¹ It is worth asking a GP or adult social care access team for one directly rather than waiting for it to be offered.

Strength and balance: the part that is not about the house

Fixing the home matters, but NICE's strongest recommendation is the one families skip: a structured, progressive strength and balance exercise programme, not gentle general activity, but one specifically aimed at balance, coordination and leg strength, tailored to the person.¹ The evidence behind this is not soft. It is the single intervention with the best track record for actually reducing fall rates, not just fall injuries.

In Hertfordshire, Strength and Balance classes are delivered through the Stevenage FC Foundation as part of the council's healthy ageing offer, aimed at people who want to improve strength and balance and maintain independence.⁴ Availability and exact locations vary, so the practical first step is asking a GP for a falls risk assessment and a referral, or contacting Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust's Integrated Community Team directly, which covers falls management and mobility assessments across North Herts, Stevenage, Welwyn and Hatfield, Cheshunt, Hoddesdon and Bishop's Stortford, on 0300 123 7571, 8am to 8pm every day.⁵ GPs, hospitals and adult care services can all refer in, and someone can also self-refer within 3 months of a hospital discharge.⁵

What to actually do after a fall

If your parent falls and is not hurt, NHS guidance is specific: move slowly, use a stable piece of furniture to help them up rather than pulling on their arms, and do not rush.² If they cannot get up, the priority is staying warm, changing position roughly every 30 minutes to avoid pressure sores, and getting help, which is exactly where a worn alarm or a phone within reach earns its cost; we cover personal alarms and drop-in video calling in detail in our digital skills guide. Any fall is worth mentioning to a GP even when nothing seems broken, because a fall is often the symptom, not the whole story, and a GP can check for the underlying cause before it happens again.

Where AirCarers Companion fits

A companion cannot fit a grab rail or run a strength and balance class, and we would not pretend otherwise. But two of the most practical things on this page are exactly the kind of thing a regular visit helps with. Clearing clutter and trailing wires is easy to say and hard to do alone, especially the awkward things nobody quite gets round to, and a companion can help sort and declutter a hallway or landing as a normal part of a visit rather than a special project. And staying active is the other half of the NICE advice that is easy to nod along to and then not do: a companion can get someone up out of the chair for a walk around the house, then the garden, and, as confidence builds, further afield, which is a gentler and more consistent way to keep moving than waiting for a class referral to come through.

Beyond that, a regular visit also tends to notice the things that build up between the events that get logged: a parent who has become more hesitant on the stairs, who has started gripping furniture to cross a room, who has quietly stopped doing something they used to do without thinking about it. Those are the early signs that usually arrive well before a fall does, and a familiar visitor who sees someone every week is often better placed to notice a small change than family checking in by phone.

Every visit is followed by short written notes, and those notes are not just filed away. If a fall, or a near fall, is mentioned once, we note it. If it is mentioned again over following visits, that pattern is picked up rather than staying buried in separate reports, and it is treated as a safeguarding concern that we act on and follow up, not just log.

We work across Ware, Hertford, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne and the surrounding SG11 to SG14 and EN10 to EN11 postcodes. Every companion is enhanced DBS checked, ID verified, insured and trained. Visits start at one hour, from £25 an hour, set by each companion. Companions do not provide personal care, medication or anything clinical, and if what you describe needs more than that, we will say so.

Other guides families ask about

• Support for a parent living alone: the full picture, every level of help that exists, free to regulated.
• Digital skills and safety technology for older parents, personal alarms, location sharing and drop-in video calling covered in full.
• Companionship for someone with dementia, a major fall risk factor in its own right.
• Coming home after a hospital stay, what to check in the two weeks after a fall lands someone in hospital.

If you would like to talk it through

If you are trying to work out whether what you are seeing is an early warning sign, or you would simply like a companion to help keep an eye on things between the things that get noticed, we are glad to have a calm, no obligation conversation about it.

AirCarers Companion · aircarerscompanion.co.uk · 07455 750006

Information correct as at 6 September 2026. Referral routes, service providers and figures can change, so please check current details with your GP or the organisation concerned.

References

1. NICE, Falls: assessment and prevention in older people and in people 50 and over at higher risk (NG249), Context. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng249/chapter/Context
2. NHS, Falls. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/falls/
3. Age UK, Fall prevention for the elderly. https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/health-wellbeing/exercise/falls-prevention/
4. Hertfordshire County Council, Keep active (Strength & Balance classes, Stevenage FC Foundation). https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/keepactive
5. Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust, Integrated Community Team. https://www.hct.nhs.uk/service-details/service/integrated-community-team-39/