June 2023 marks twenty years of a community specialist falls service within Lanarkshire and the team are keen to celebrate their achievements.
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.
As one of the first dedicated falls services in Scotland, this pioneering team have been instrumental in shaping national falls strategy. More recently they have been heavily involved in the development and implementation of the Lanarkshire falls strategy.
Sandra Lawler, a highly specialist physiotherapist and one of the founding members of the falls team, remains in post after twenty years. She is delighted that falls are now being seen as everyone’s business.
She said: “I am very pleased to have played my part in developing and now implementing the Lanarkshire falls strategy. Together with the team I am particularly proud of the Lanarkshire falls pathway and associated training programme, which sees a unified approach to falls reduction across Lanarkshire.”
Over the years the falls service has expanded from its original two-person physiotherapy and occupational therapy team covering communities in Coatbridge, Airdrie and Cumbernauld, to being a pan-Lanarkshire community service incorporating specialist nursing input and dedicated falls medical clinics.
The team also developed an electronic falls register and falls hub (the first developed within Scotland), which continues to be an invaluable resource in patient-centred care and falls reduction.
The shared vision for Lanarkshire is “where possible more people live a life free from harm from falls” and the falls service will continue striving towards this.
For more information, see the Lanarkshire falls Strategy on FirstPort.
Lanarkshire Falls Strategy.pdf
