Friday 20 July 2012

Preventing Falls on Hospital Wards - The FallSafe Project

Over 280,000 patient falls are reported from hospitals and mental health units annually, costing approximately £15 million per annum. Most hospital fallers are aged over 75 years and have multiple long term and acute illnesses. Although in purely financial terms the healthcare costs of falls are only a small fraction of a percentage of trust income and expenditure, the costs to a trusts’ reputation, patient and carer confidence, and social care costs can be significant.

The FallSafe project was delivered by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) as part of the Health Foundation’s Closing the Gap Programme, which aimed to reduce the gap between best practice and routine delivery of care.
The FallSafe project involved educating, inspiring and supporting acute, rehabilitation and mental health nurses to deliver multifactorial assessments and interventions through a care bundle approach. The care bundle, the FallSafe project final report, and How to… guides for implementation comprise the Falls Prevention Resource pack, which launched on 17th July. Access the Falls Prevention Resource.


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