An extensive academic study has found care home resident falls can be slashed via a co-ordinated approach to prevention.
A study led by the University of Nottingham saw a 43 per cent reduction in the rate of falls compared with residents who did not receive the intervention.
The ‘Falls in Care Homes study’ (FinCH) tested a new approach called the ‘Guide to Action to prevent Falls in Care Home’ (GtACH) programme, which was designed by a collaborative group including care home staff, and families.
The study was conducted across 84 care homes in 11 different areas of England and included 1,657 residents over a three-year period.
The programme includes one hour of training for all care home staff, including gardeners, caretakers, cooks, cleaners, managers, in small groups, delivered by a falls specialist.
A manual summarising the GtACH programme is left in the home after training and includes resources such as a falls incident chart to detect patterns and a medication falls risk chart.
Once trained, staff are expected to use the GtACH risk assessment and guide to action checklist with all residents.
For example, the assessment might highlight that a resident is dehydrated and the recommended action is to increase fluids.
The manual and training enable the care home staff to achieve this by taking action such as introducing smoothies, having more fruit juice on offer, providing appropriate crockery, making soups, and making an event of coffee time.
Overall, the training and resources increase both awareness and knowledge about the management of falls.
The research found there was no adverse effect on residents’ mobility or independence, and the treatment was found to be cost-effective and fell well within the cost-thresholds set by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for treatments to be funded through the NHS.
“This research is the largest care home study completed in the UK and the team included academics, care home residents, families, care home staff, social care and NHS employees, a truly interdisciplinary UK trial,” said Professor Pip Logan from the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Rehabilitation and Ageing Research and was one of the lead authors of the study.
“By preventing falls, the FinCH programme could improve quality of life and save lives, whilst also saving NHS and social care providers money, that can be reinvested into high quality care for older people,” she added.
The full study can be found here.
