Summit explores falls prevention in care homes
Posted: 3rd April 2018
Around 200 delegates have taken part in a North of England Summit to discuss innovative ways to reduce the number of falls in people living in care homes.
The summit, in Harrogate, was organised jointly by the four northern Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), Public Health England North, NHS England North, the Independent Care Sector Board, Care Quality Commission (CQC) the Care Homes Association and independent care sector providers.
Speakers included:
- Daniel MacIntyre, Chair of the Falls Prevention Group at Public Health England who provided a national overview including an outline of national workstreams and the vision for the future. His presentation is available here
- Lianne McInally, a Falls Advanced Occupational Therapist with the Lanarkshire Falls Service who spoke about the Scottish National Falls Programme and the work of the Improvement Collaborative in reducing falls in care homes. View her presentation here
- Pippa Hedley-Takhar, Test Bed Programme Manager, Digital Care Home, Perfect Patient Pathway Test Bed (Sheffield region) who talked about how technology can support the delivery of patient centred care. Pippa’s presentation is available here
Delegates also heard from a team from Roche Healthcare, supported by members of the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’s Improvement Academy on the implementation of safety huddles in West Yorkshire Care Homes as well as a team of CQC inspectors who spoke about what good and outstanding care looks like.
During the afternoon, delegates took part in interactive workshops with the aim of creating action plans that could be put into practice following the event.
Afterwards Ruth Holt, Director of Nursing and Independent Care Sector Lead at NHS England who helped host the event commented: “It is great to see so many people talking positively about what they can do to reduce falls and I am looking forward to some action planning with the regional groups.”
The four northern AHSNs are:
- Yorkshire & Humber AHSN
- North East and North Cumbria AHSN
- The Innovation Agency (the AHSN for the North West Coast)
- Greater Manchester AHSN