The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) is calling on the next federal government to prioritise urgent action on falls prevention, launching a new evidence-based position statement as April Falls Prevention Month draws to a close.

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death and hospitalisation among Australians aged 65 and over, costing the healthcare system more than $5 billion each year .

‘Falls destroy independence and place an unacceptable burden on our health and aged care systems - but they are not inevitable,’ said APA National President and gerontological physiotherapist Dr Rik Dawson MACP.

Proven programs, real savings

The APA’s new statement highlights that physiotherapy-led falls prevention programs:

• Reduce falls by 55 per cent in residential aged care.
• Reduce falls by 24 per cent among community-dwelling older adults.
• Could save up to $120 million per year in the aged care sector alone if scaled nationally. 

Public support is strong

New research commissioned for April Falls Prevention Month reveals:

• More than half of Australians aged 45 and over have experienced a fall themselves or know someone who has in the past year.
• Seven in ten have seen someone lose their independence because of a fall.
• Nine in ten support making physiotherapy-led falls prevention programs free for people over 65. 

‘Without urgent investment, the human and economic toll of falls will only grow as our population ages, the good news is physiotherapy-led strength and balance programs are the solution,’ Dr Dawson said.

The APA recommends that state and federal governments:

1. Prioritise reablement across aged care reforms, ensuring strengthened Quality Standards and Quality Indicators are met.
2. Increase access to community preventive and early intervention physiotherapy services.
3. Establish funding models in primary healthcare and residential aged care for timely falls risk screening and early assessment.
4. Support access to physiotherapy interventions for all older adults at medium to high risk of falls, irrespective of setting.

The APA is calling for ongoing funding to deliver:

1. One full-time physiotherapist on staff per 50-bed residential aged care facility.
2. Access to physiotherapist-led falls prevention programs, delivered twice weekly for 12 weeks at six-monthly intervals, for aged care residents at risk.
3. Scalable, evidence-based physiotherapy-led falls prevention programs for residents living with dementia and those in rural, regional and remote areas, including via telehealth.
4. Short-Term Restorative Care falls prevention programs for community-dwelling older adults under the Support at Home program’s Restorative Care pathway.
5. Twice-weekly group community programs delivered by physiotherapists through Primary Health Networks under a nationally consistent model.
6. Physiotherapy falls risk assessments through Medicare, and 10 physiotherapy visits under Chronic Disease Management plans.
7. Falls prevention programs for all older adults who have presented to an emergency department and/or been admitted to hospital following a fall.

April marks Falls Prevention Awareness Month, with the 2025 theme, Falls prevention is everyone’s business.

References:
ⁱAustralian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Falls. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/falls  
ⁱⁱAustralian Physiotherapy Association (APA). 2025. 2025 Federal Election Statement: Putting Patients at the Centre of Care. Australian Physiotherapy Association.
ⁱⁱⁱAustralian Physiotherapy Association (APA). 2025. Falls Prevention Survey: Project Gravity. Australian Physiotherapy Association.