Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Falls'.
Found 80 results
-
Content ArticleA repository of resources aimed at patients and carers which have been co-produced by the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP) patient and carer panel.
-
News Article
Rise in hospital falls and bed sores in Scotland since pandemic
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of falls and bed sores recorded in Scotland's hospitals has increased since the Covid pandemic, new data shows. NHS staffing pressures and the deconditioning effect of the Covid lockdown creating more frail patients are being blamed for the rise. The Scottish government paused work on a national prevention strategy for falls when the pandemic started. The strategy has now been shelved and experts argue this is a mistake. Figures released by NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) show that in 2018-19 - the last full year before the Covid pandemic - a total of 26,489 falls were recorded in hospitals. Dawn Skelton, a professor in ageing and health at Glasgow Caledonian University, said there was a "maelstrom" of problems fuelling the increase in hospital falls. She said: "You've got staffing issues definitely but you've also got people who are going in to hospital a step change frailer than they were pre-Covid because of what has happened with all the restrictions. "The people in these falls figures have got no reserves, blow on them and they will fall over, so they are at more risk when they go in." IProf Skelton said it was time to resurrect the Scottish government's falls and fracture prevention strategy as its "value now cannot be underestimated". She added: "Falls and frailty are one of the main causes of long hospital stays and demands on social care and without a spotlight on both the management, but also prevention, the financial and staffing demands on NHS and social care will only rise." Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 November 2022 -
Content ArticleFalls are the most commonly reported patient safety incident in healthcare, with nearly 250,000 reported from hospitals in England and Wales each year. As well as causing injury to patients, the cost of treating falls is estimated to be around £630 million each year in England. This eLearning course is designed to help healthcare workers prevent patient falls in hospital. There are two modules available: Module 1 is aimed at hospital-based nurses. Module 2 is aimed at foundation level doctors and includes interactive information about patient and environmental falls risk factors, the patient assessment and post fall management. Both modules have been designed to complement, not replace, local falls prevention policies and processes.
-
Content ArticleAs well as having a significant negative impact on the health and wellbeing of people with dementia, falls increase service costs related to staff time, paramedic visits, and A&E admissions. This study in the Journal of Patient Safety examined whether a remote digital vision-based monitoring and management system had an impact on the prevention of falls. The authors concluded that a contact-free, remote digital vision-based monitoring and management system reduced falls, fall-related injuries, emergency services time, clinician time, and disruptive night time observations. This benefits clinicians by allowing them to undertake other clinical duties and promotes the health and safety of patients who might normally experience injury-related stress and disruption to sleep.
-
Content ArticleTwo years ago, a patient safety incident at North Bristol Trust led to the introduction of Swarm – a step change in how the trust responds to safety incidents. Swarm is a form of safety incident huddle that takes place as close as possible in time and place to the incident, allows blame-free investigation and leads to prompt action. This article describes how Swarm works, its advantages over root cause analysis, and how it is being embedded in the safety culture of North Bristol Trust.
-
Content ArticleThis manifesto was created by the Community Rehabilitation Alliance, a collective of 50 charities, trade unions and professional bodies coming together to call on all political parties to ensure there is equal access to high quality community rehabilitation services for all patients.
-
Content ArticleThere is a lack of awareness regarding the pervasive influence of the built environment on caregiving activities, and how its design could reduce risks for patients and providers. This article from Joseph et al. presents a narrative review summarising key findings that link health care facility design to key targeted safety outcomes: health care–associated infections, falls, and medication errors. It describes how facility design should be considered in conjunction with quality improvement legislation; projects under way in health systems; and the work of guideline-setting organizations, funding agencies, industry, and educational institutions. The article also charts a path forward that consolidates existing challenges and suggests what can be done about them to create safe and high-quality healthcare environments.
-
Content Article
1- 7 November 2021 is Occupational Therapy Week. In this blog, Susanna Keenan, occupational therapist and Joanna Gilmore, student occupational therapist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, explain what their role involves and the important part occupational therapists play in patient safety.- Posted
- 1 comment
-
- (and 3 more)
-
Content ArticleFalls are the most frequently reported incident affecting hospital inpatients, with 247,000 falls occurring in inpatient settings each year in England alone. The FFFAP Patient Panel along with the NAIF Multidisciplinary advisory group have worked together to produce these patient information resources for Healthcare Champions who are looking to influence and improve the care and management of patients who have fallen in an inpatient setting.
-
Content ArticleIf you're a carer and the person you care for fractures their hip, this guide from the Royal College of Physicians will ensure that you are equipped with the information you need to support their recovery.
-
Content ArticleThis YouTube channel contains video resources designed to raise awareness of falls and how to prevent them. The videos contain simple techniques to help prevent falls and promote healthy lifestyle choices. Videos include a daily 'Falls and management exercise class' and a weekly 'Functional Fitness MOT' for patients to use at home.
-
Content ArticleOn 24 March 2021, an investigation into the death of Hazel Fleur Wiltshire was opened. The conclusion of the inquest was that Mrs Wiltshire died from pneumonia caused by a fall and by COVID-19 that she acquired in hospital. The fall was caused by her trying to relieve herself without assistance in the context of long delays in answering calls bells at the time.
- Posted
- 3 comments
-
1
-
- (and 6 more)
-
Content Article
Gavin Portier is Head of Nursing Quality at Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In this interview, Gavin explains how his approach to auditing has moved beyond measuring negative outcomes, instead focusing on standards of care. -
Content Article
Safe Steps technology
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Community care
Safe Steps Ltd creates digital web applications for UK care homes, local authorities and NHS trusts to help reduce falls for older people and residents. -
Content ArticleIn this blog, Neil O'Halloran, Clinical Support Specialist for Medline, describes how and why he set up a group to bring together falls prevention leads. His vision was to create a network where people could share best practices and become a resource and support for each other. You can find out more about the network by following the link below.
-
Content ArticleBarrie Housby had a medical history that included frailty, Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration. During a stay at Clifton Hospital he was known to be at high risk of falls and at the beginning of the nightshift on 12 July 2021, it was advised that he should be cared for on a one to one basis and not left unattended. During the shift, a member of staff allocated to monitor him left the bay to attend to other duties, and in this time Mr Housby left his bed and fell. He was transferred to a hospital emergency department but subsequently died on 13 July 2021 as a result of a traumatic subdural haemorrhage following a fall. In his report, the Coroner Alan Wilson highlights the impact of staffing shortages at the Trust and their contribution to Mr Housby’s death, stating that this poses an ongoing risk to patient safety.
-
Content ArticleThe National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) has published their latest report into the care given to patients who fell while they were in hospital and sustained a hip fracture. Based on data from 1,357 patients in 2020, the report presents information on post-fall management and tracks performance against NICE Quality Standard 86, which includes checking the patient for injury before moving, using safe lifting equipment and prompt medical assessment after the fall.
-
Content ArticleDespite decades of research into patient falls, there is a dearth of evidence about how the design of patient rooms influences falls. This multi-year study aims to better understand how patient room design can increase stability during ambulation, serving as a fall protection strategy for frail and/or elderly patients.
-
Content ArticleBarbara Young fell downstairs at her home at 11.30am on 15 July 2021, sustaining multiple injuries including fractures of her ribs, spine and skull. Her family immediately called the emergency services and informed the ambulance call handlers that she had fallen downstairs, was not fully conscious and had sustained an apparently severe head injury. An ambulance subsequently arrived at 2.26pm and she was taken to hospital where, due to her reduced mobility, she developed pneumonia. Mrs Young’s conditioned worsened over the coming days and she died on 24 July 2021. In her report, the Coroner raises concerns about the ambulance waiting time in this case, and more generally about ambulance response times in cases where elderly patients experience falls.
-
Community Post
Better use of data for medication safety in hospitals
Kenny Fraser posted a topic in Medicine management
- (and 46 more)
NHS hospital staff spend countless hours capturing data in electronic prescribing and medicines administration systems. Yet that data remains difficult to access and use to support patient care. This is a tremendous opportunity to improve patient safety, drive efficiencies and save time for frontline staff. I have just published a post about this challenge and Triscribe's solution. I would love to hear any comments or feedback on the topic... How could we use this information better? What are hospitals already doing? Where are the gaps? Thanks- Posted
- 2 replies
-
1
-
- (and 46 more)
-
Content Article
Safety thermometer tool (NEQOS)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Quality Improvement
The aim of the NHS Safety Thermometer is to provide a local improvement tool for measuring, monitoring and analysing patient harms and ‘harm free care’. Data is collected by Trusts on pressure ulcers, falls, urinary tract infections (UTI), and Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) assessments, prophylaxis and treatment. The North East Quality Observatory Service (NEQOS) Safety Thermometer Tool allows trusts to compare themselves against their peers (for improvement purposes) as well as to undertake internal comparisons across different service areas within the Trust. Produced quarterly, the tool uses National Safety Thermometer data published by NHS Digital and presents this by Trust across the North East & North Cumbria (NENC) area, providing comparisons between peers as well as with the national average, with breakdowns by service areas for detailed analysis. -
News Article
Resident died after treatment at failing care home
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A resident at an inadequate care home died after their blood glucose increased to high levels and staff acted too slowly, a report found. Inspectors said The Berkshire Care Home in Wokingham breached guidelines in nine areas and must improve. They found residents were put at risk after medicines were not used properly and that records were not up to date. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said an ambulance was only called for the person who died when they were found to be unresponsive. They later died in hospital. Its report said staff were "not sufficiently skilled" to safely care for people with diabetes. A resident was given paracetamol and co-dydramol eight times over three days, when they should not be used together because they both contain paracetamol, the report said. Another person was burned by a cup of tea and staff did not treat the injury properly, leading to the person developing an infection and later being admitted to hospital. Staff sometimes felt "rushed and under pressure", the report found. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 December 2021 -
News Article
New volunteer programme to help older patients reduce risk of fall
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A new volunteering programme is aiming to bring trained volunteers into the homes of older patients to provide one-to-one support. The Falls Prevention Community Exercise Volunteers programme is being run by the volunteering service at Kingston Hospital NHS FT, which is funded by the volunteering organisation Helpforce and the Kingston Hospital Charity. It hopes that this will improve the strength, balance, and mobility of elderly patients, as well as improve their overall health and well-being. This is then expected to reduce the strain on the NHS caused by falls among older patients. Research from NICE in 2018 showed that the risk of falls in elderly patients can be reduced by as much as 54%, when they take part in exercises focused on improving strength and balance. Bianca Larch, Community Outreach Manager at the trust, said: “We are delighted to launch this much needed volunteering service to support our patients at home. “With volunteers supporting patients to undertake a physiotherapy prescribed exercise programme, we hope to see improved strength, mobility and balance in our patients and in turn reduce their risk of falls significantly. “This programme can really improve the quality of life of our patients by restoring well-being and independence, especially for those waiting to access various community interventions.” Read full story Source: National Health Executive, 9 September 2021 -
EventThis Hospital at Night Summit focuses on out of hours care in hospitals delivering high quality safe care at night. Through national updates, networking opportunities and case studies this conference provides a practical guide to delivering a high quality hospital at night, and moving forward during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference will also focus on improving staff well-being at night and reducing fatigue. Attending this conference will enable you to: Network with colleagues who are working to improve Hospital at Night Practice Learn from developments as a results of Covid-19 Improve your skills in the recognition management and escalation of deteriorating patients at night Understand and evaluate different models for Hospital at Night Examine the role of task management solutions for Hospital at Night, including handover and eObservations Ensuring effective and safe staffing at night, including adequate breaks Examine Hospital at Night team roles, competence and improve team working Improving safety through the reduction of falls at night Supporting staff and reducing fatigue at night Develop the role of Clinical Practitioner and Advanced Nursing Practice at night Identify key strategies to change practice and ways of working in Hospital at Night Understand how hospitals can improve conditions for night workers and support Junior Doctors Improve the management of pain at night Work across whole systems to improve support for patients out of hours Self assess and reflect on your own practice Gain CPD accreditation points contributing to professional development and revalidation Evidence Register There are a limited number of free places for hub members. Email: info@pslhuborg if interested. Follow on Twitter @HCUK_Clare #hospitalatnight
-
Content ArticleThis study in BMC Health Services Research aimed to evaluate the impact of an Internet of Things intervention in a hospital unit. The Internet of Things refers to a network of physical objects that are connected by sensors, software and other technologies in order to transfer data and interact with one another. This study demonstrates the effects of smart technologies on patient falls, hand hygiene compliance rate and staff experiences. The authors reported some positive changes that were also reflected in interviews with staff. They identified behavioural and environmental issues as being particularly important to ensure the success of Internet of Things innovations in a hospital setting.
