Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport has won the award for Patient Safety Improvement from the Nursing Times. Along with Aegis Healthcare, they have been developing a multifactorial approach to falls prevention and management. This issue has been given a high priority from the board right through to the
staff on the ground. A realistic approach has been adopted to not only try to reduce the number of falls but also to reduce the injury caused by any fall which does occur.
The multifactorial falls prevention (mffp) programme involved a range of activities and initiatives, which included:
* Training: a specialised falls prevention and management education training package was developed and rolled out across the trust, to all levels of nursing staff and allied health professionals;
* Bed/chair sensor alarms: after being used successfully in high-risk wards we have now rolled these alarms out across all wards in the hospital — they are used for high-risk patients, such as those who are confused or unsteady;
* Low-profiling beds: these are rented by wards on a patient-specific basis for those who are likely to fall in the bed area and are high risk;
* Executive team safety walkrounds: these are undertaken on a frequent basis;
* “Safety huddles”: these are undertaken with falls collaborative wards on a regular basis to look at tests of change to be implemented and to check on progress;
* Board involvement: a section on falls, which contains an update on falls collaborative and current incident/harm rates is now included in the monthly quality reports reviewed at board level.
Health professionals;
* Bed/chair sensor alarms: after being used successfully in high-risk wards we have now rolled these alarms out across all wards in the hospital — they are used for high-risk patients, such as those who are confused or unsteady;
* Low-profiling beds: these are rented by wards on a patient-specific basis for those who are likely to fall in the bed area and are high risk;
* Executive team safety walkrounds: these are undertaken on a frequent basis;
* “Safety huddles”: these are undertaken with falls collaborative wards on a regular basis to look at tests of change to be implemented and to check on progress;
* Board involvement: a section on falls, which contains an update on falls collaborative and current incident/harm rates is now included in the monthly quality reports reviewed at board level.
The trust estimates that so far they have saved approximately £20,000 as a direct result of their MFFP program.
Stepping Hill Hospital
Winner of the coveted NT Patient Safety Improvement Award
Designed & created by
Gavin Wright
Terms & Conditions 30 Smilie Road, Peterlee, Co.Durham, England. SR8 4AN e-mail