Injury Matters is proud to release the 2025 Western Australian Falls Report. This annual publication continues to highlight falls as the leading cause of injury-related deaths, hospitalisations and ED attendances in WA. From 2022 to 2023, the number and rate of falls hospitalisations and ED attendances increased, further adding to the growing concern about the impact of falls in WA.
As highlighted in the infographics below, the frequency of injuries due to falls is resulting in members of the WA community regularly accessing health services for acute care.
Within the Report a number of sub-populations are overrepresented, including older adults, females, Aboriginal people and people living within the Kimberley, Pilbara, Wheatbelt and Midwest health regions. The high incidence of falls among older adults is a critical concern, especially given WA’s ageing population and that over the past five years there has been a 67% increase in the number of people 65+ being hospitalised due to a fall in WA.
Given the enduring impact of falls on the Western Australian community there is no questioning that coordinated action and additional resources are required to reduce the growing impact of falls in WA. Within the Report Injury Matters calls for the urgent need to:
- Scale up evidence-based falls prevention initiatives.
- Provide tailored falls prevention support to priority population groups, including older adults, regional residents, Aboriginal people and people from multicultural communities.
- Address falls prevention from the individual, community and multidisciplinary perspectives.
- Align falls prevention activities to the 2025 Best Practice Guidelines for preventing falls and harm from falls in Older People.
Injury Matters encourages you to access the 2025 WA Falls Report to understand the incidence of falls in WA, share it amongst your networks and work with us to reduce the impact that falls has on the WA community.
Injury Matters developed the 2025 WA Falls Report with funding from the Western Australian Department of Health.