What we are doing
The original FallSafe project focuses on prevention and management of falls in clinical hospital wards in Southern England SHA.
In England and Wales in 2008-9 there were at least 283,000 falls, with over 1065 serious injuries and at least 83 directly attributable deaths. FallSafe looked at what could be done about falls prevention at ward level.
In May 2010, 16 inpatient wards from community, mental health and acute settings were selected across Southern England. All participating wards appointed a band 5/6 nurse to take on the role of FallSafe lead in addition to their current role for the duration of the project. The FallSafe lead was responsible for championing the cause of falls prevention on the ward by introducing a “bundle of care” on their ward.
Success depended on engaging a multidisciplinary team and recording inpatient experience. Compliance of delivery of this bundle was reported monthly incorporating methods such as PDSA cycles (Plan-Do-Study-Act) to identify areas for improvement by FallSafe leads.
Training sessions were held bi-monthly with the FallSafe leads covering each aspect of the care bundle as well as quality improvement methodology, organisational change management, and enabled networking and peer support. This 2-year project successfully implemented care bundles for falls prevention in a variety of wards within the Southern England Strategic Health Authority.
