"Falls assessment"

My wife rang to see how her Grandmother was getting on following a fall. As this wasn't the first fall she had suffered in the last few months she asked whether a falls assessment had been undertaken, and the reason for her admission. The answer wasn't reassuring as the nurse asked my wife what she meant by this.

My wife was told that this should have been undertaken as part of her admission but didn't comment on whether this had actually occurred or what had been put in place.

The trust has a legal responsibility to assess and mitigate to the best of their ability to ensure that a person doesn't come to harm whist in their care. Being told that the "assessment will have been done on admission" offers no assurance that this has actually been undertaken or if undertaken is accurate.

Falls assessment is rule 101 of elderly admission and should be the precursor to a successful discharge from hospital. I feel like this setting people up to fail, and not ensuring that they are able to fulfil what time they have without fear of unnecessary injury.