FallStop: Winner of the 'Professionalising patient safety' category 2019

Summary

FallStop is a quality improvement programme from the Falls Prevention Team at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. It was developed in 2016 when they found there was a high rate of falls at one of their hospitals and a failure to learn from incidents. A FallStop Practitioner co-ordinates the programme and delivers training.

Content

Objective

1. Reduce incidence of falls and harm.
2. Embed falls prevention into everyday practice.
3. Engage clinical staff to identify patients at risk and implement harm prevention strategies.

Process for target wards:

1. Present data for the past 12 months for falls by severity, as baseline metric.
2. Present serious falls and actions undertaken.
3. Falls Risk Assessment audit as baseline metric. 
4. Falls Link Worker ensures a display board is refreshed with falls prevention displays and audit result. 
5. Ward team set own targets for improvement weekly.
6. Teaching sessions delivered. These may be ward sessions or in the Quality Improvement and Innovation (QII) hub. 
7. Weekly audits continue.

Evaluation: 

1. Meeting with the team to discuss programme results, falls incidences, post fall assessment themes and audit results.
2. Link worker provides evidence of training undertaken and plan for those who have not received training.
3. Improvement plan agreed to be delivered by the link worker.