The Falls Clinic

The Falls Clinic is a clinic for older people who have fallen and injured themselves, who have fallen several times in the last year, or who now limit what they do because they are afraid of falling.

The Falls Clinic at Vale Healthcare is based in the Cardiff Bay Clinic which is an out-patient and day patient facility just off the southern end of the A4232. We also see patients at the Vale Hospital which is a 32-bedded in-patient and out-patient facility just of Junction 34 of the M4.

We aim to take most referrals from primary care, but we are also happy for patients and families to contact us directly. However if a patient does come to us directly, we always get them to ask their GP for a letter of referral. If a patient is referred from secondary care, we ask them to notify thier GP prior to their first appointment with us. We will not see patients in clinic without a letter of referral.

When we’ve seen a patient in clinic for their multi-factorial falls risk assessment (MFFRA), we then contact their GP to discuss the findings of the assessment, and will only proceed with the risk reduction plan with the GP’s agreement and involvement. We always try to meet GPs face to face as we find this makes for a good working relationship.

Once we’ve started the risk reduction plan, we review patients every six weeks for the first six months, then every twelve weeks to the end of the first year. This way we have serial measurements of progress so we can fine-tune patients risk reduction plans. Each time we see a patient, we send their GP a report on progress.

Our strength and balance training program is a two part program held at different locations. The first part is a twelve week basic program held in the gym of one of two modern hotels, one in Cardiff one in the Vale of Glamorgan. Patients choose which location they would like to attend. The second part is a nine month continuation program held in the patient’s own home, local environment or local gym. Both parts of program are provided by Registered Exercise Professionals with accreditation in postural stability instruction.

If you would like to meet us and learn more about what we do, we'd be pleased to come to your place of work and do a 30-40 minute lunchtime presentation for you and your colleagues. The service is free and we'll even bring lunch. For more information please send us your details using the form on the Contact & Travel page on our website. Please don’t forget to include your mobile number so we can contact you directly.

Photographs

This page links to news items, product information and instructional videos, but it also shows images of patients undergoing assessment and treatment at The Falls Clinic. All patients whose images appear on this page have consented to their images appearing here. But to minimise the risk of identification, we only use partial images and we never show patients faces.