Bringing health voices together to prevent falls: Highlights from the 2026 VFPA Symposium

On Friday 8 May, over 300 clinicians, researchers, consumers and health leaders came together, both in person at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and online, for the 2026 Victorian Falls Prevention Alliance (VFPA) Symposium. It was a dynamic morning focused on the shared goal of reducing falls and improving outcomes for patients across Victoria.

The Symposium, chaired by Associate Professor Frances Batchelor of the National Ageing Research Institute, opened with a consumer perspective from Robyn Abrahams about how falls prevention efforts can truly meet the needs of patients and families.

In the keynote address, Professor Danielle Bouchard from the University of New Brunswick sparked important conversations about how evidence is applied in practice and where there is room to improve with her talk “Falls and Exercise: We all know, and we know it all right?”

A key focus of the day was translating evidence into practice. Sessions explored:

• The latest hospital falls prevention interventions and implementation insights
• How family members can be more actively involved in patient care
• The role of electronic medical record tools in improving clinical responses
• clinician presentations that showcased practical ideas and innovations from across the sector. These short, sharp insights demonstrated the ingenuity driving falls prevention work on the ground.

The symposium concluded with a lively panel discussion, bringing together researchers, clinicians and the consumer voice to reflect on key themes and future directions.

The 2026 VFPA Symposium reinforced what is possible when Victoria’s health community comes together with a shared purpose: turning knowledge into real-world impact for safer care and healthier communities.

About the Victorian Falls Prevention Alliance

The Victorian Falls Prevention Alliance (VFPA) is an initiative of The Victorian Research Translation Centre Collaborative, a partnership between Western Alliance, Melbourne Academic Centre for Health and Monash Partners Health Translation Network.

The VFPA works collaboratively to reduce falls and falls injuries in hospitals, which are the most frequent clinical risk in hospital patient care. This work is overseen by a committee made up of researchers, clinicians and consumers.

The Alliance will play an instrumental role working with Victorian health services on the implementation of the World guidelines for falls prevention and management for older adults.