Community falls prevention for people who call an emergency ambulance after a fall: an economic evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial

Design: a cost-effectiveness and cost utility analysis alongside a randomised controlled trial Setting: community. Participants: people over 60 years of age living at home or in residential care who had fallen and called an emergency ambulance but were not taken to hospital. Interventions: referral to community fall prevention services or usual health and social care. Measurements: incremental cost per fall prevented and incremental cost per Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) Results: a total of 157 participants (82 interventions and 75 controls) were used to perform the economic evaluation. The mean difference in NHS and personal social service costs between the groups was -1,551 pound per patient over 1 year (95% CI: -5,932 pound to 2,829) pound comparing the intervention and control groups. The intervention patients experienced on average 5.34 fewer falls over 12 months (95% CI: -7.06 to -3.62). The mean difference in QALYs was 0.070 (95% CI: -0.010 to 0.150) in favour of the intervention group. Conclusion: the community falls prevention service was estimated to be cost-effective in this high-risk group. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN67535605. (controlled-trials.com).