It’s falls awareness week again, and we are keen to highlight the ongoing efforts in Lanarkshire to prevent falls and keep our community safe.
Based at Coathill Hospital in Coatbridge, this small multi-disciplinary team cover all areas of Lanarkshire. The team have both a clinical and strategic role, as well as supporting improvement work within the community.
This week the Specialist Falls Team will be working tirelessly to raise awareness through a range of actions to involve staff, patients and visitors. This includes pop up engagement sessions, community information stalls, and staff training to support falls conversations and assessments.
The team are already making strides in reducing fall risks and have recently joined forces with the Active Wards steering group to incorporate their falls work and resources into the active wards programmes.
As one of the first dedicated falls services in Scotland, this pioneering team have been instrumental in shaping national falls strategy.
Nichola O’Donnell who manages the falls team explained: “We offer a comprehensive three tiered approach to falls assessment.”
Through the team’s three-tiered system they aim to deliver the right level of care from basic, early risk identification and self-management resources through to specialist intervention.
Peter McCrossan, director for Allied Health Professions and the NHS Lanarkshire falls lead, said “The NHS Lanarkshire Falls Strategy implementation has positively impacted our inpatient falls rate, which is now below the national rate and has improved over the last three years.”
