The consequences of dementia with short term memory loss, visuospatial dysfunction, executive dysfunction, apathy, word-finding difficulty and apraxia is devastating both to the patient and family. It is estimated that 1% of Australians aged 65 years have dementia and that almost half of our population over 85 years have dementia to varying degrees. Alzheimer’s (60% of cases), vascular dementia (15% of cases), Lewy body and frontotemporal (each 5% of cases) and other forms of dementia secondary to alcohol, trauma and neurodegenerative disorders reflect the main forms of dementia seen in our society

Each year in Australia, over 125,000 of our more elderly population are admitted to hospital consequent to a fall. About a third of people over the age of 65 years fall each year and this figure rises exponentially with age. In up to 10% of falls, serious injuries such as fractures (a third of which are hip), soft tissue injuries and direct brain injuries arise. Falls and injuries from falls have serious implications and consequences.