The number of people aged 65 and over living independently who participated in a fall risk assessment has increased. This assessment is used to determine the risk of falling. In 2024, the assessment was administered at least 50,000 times. This is still below the intended target of 14 per cent of all elderly people living independently (over 500,000). Elderly people at a high risk of falling and underlying conditions are assessed less often. This is shown by a new RIVM study into the chain approach to fall prevention.
The number of fall risk assessments administered is an underestimate, as not all assessments are registered. Municipalities have partial insight into the number of fall risk assessments administered. Of all municipalities, 76 per cent now indicate that they use the fall risk assessment. Care providers have practically no insight at all into the number of fall risk assessments administered. Moreover, it turns out that the screening (fall risk evaluation) intended for those at the highest risk of falling remains rarely used. Cooperation agreements on this part of the chain approach are often still lacking as well. It is also not known how many elderly people continue to participate in sports and physical activity after completing a fall prevention course.
Municipalities have made progress
Almost all municipalities are working on setting up a chain approach to fall prevention. Compared to last year, the number of elderly people who were tracked down by municipalities and participated in a fall prevention course has increased. Additionally, more municipalities have made agreements about fall prevention with care insurers and care professionals.
Points for improvement
However, the extent to which the group with the highest risk is being reached remains low. Care providers such as general practitioners, home care providers, hospitals and pharmacists could play a more active role in this. Some providers still lack knowledge about the chain approach. Such knowledge would allow them to track down people at risk of falling and refer them correctly. More efforts could be made to reach vulnerable groups (such as elderly people with a low income or socially isolated elderly people) more effectively. Some municipalities are already working on this. Furthermore, there is a need for better registration of efforts to identify which elderly people are more likely to fall and the extent to which they continue to participate in sports and physical activity on a structural basis following a fall prevention course.
Concluded agreements difficult to implement
In general, RIVM concludes that the cooperation between care insurers, care providers, municipalities and sports organisations has improved. More and more agreements are being made. At the same time, these appear to be difficult to implement, for example because of the parties’ different working methods or because they do not speak each other’s language.
About the study
Every year, RIVM maps out the progress and results of the chain approach to fall prevention. This third report covers 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. The chain approach to fall prevention consists of four steps: identifying which elderly people are at a significant risk of falling, researching which factors increase the risk of falling, getting elderly people to participate in fall prevention courses and motivating them to continue participating in sports and physical activity. As of today, the Regiobeeld.nl website shows the most up-to-date figures on fall prevention.
RIVM carries out this study at the request of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.