The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has again won the contract to deliver the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP) for the next 3 years.
Following an open tender process, the contract was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) on behalf of NHS England and Welsh Government.
Dr Antony Johansen, FFFAP senior clinical lead, said:
We are delighted to have been awarded this contract. Over the last decade, FFFAP has driven huge improvements in the care offered to patients and mortality has almost halved. Our work has used hip fracture rates as a marker of the quality of the multidisciplinary care offered to all frail and older people by the NHS.
With further funding, FFFAP can continue to build on its successes and integrate it with work on primary and secondary prevention to avoid so many people suffering devastating injuries like this in the future.
Iona Price, FFFAP Patient and Carer Network representative, said:
I am very pleased that the RCP will continue to deliver the FFFAP programme. Having a fall or hip fracture can be life changing for an individual, particularly for the elderly. With an ageing population, it’s hugely important we ensure that as many falls are prevented as possible, to help reduce the strain on the NHS and the impact upon patients.
I look forward to working with the programme in helping to improve the care offered to patients.
The RCP’s multidisciplinary FFFAP team, led by consultants in geriatrics, orthopaedics, rheumatology and physiotherapy, will work closely with patient representatives, professional bodies, royal colleges, patient charities, and other stakeholders to develop the content and methodology for the programme, collecting data in near-real-time.
