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Posted on 6 Feb 2019

Two new training resources, to support East Midlands care homes in identifying risks of falls, have been launched by the Trust at an LPZ Awards and learning event in Nottingham to over 150 care homes and NHS provider staff. 

The React to Falls and React to Feet resources, which include an online training film, a booklet and pocket guide, were developed by the Nottinghamshire Falls teams, Specialist Podiatry and Nottingham CityCare Tissue Viability service.  These aim to provide care homes with the knowledge and skills required to confidently identify risks of falling and to promote best practice in foot care and how to prevent falls for care home residents.  Although primarily aimed at care homes, they are transferrable to any health care setting.

The resources were developed following the results of an initiative called the Landielijke Pravelentiemeting Zorgkwaliteit (LPZ) tool, developed by Maastricht University in The Netherlands and introduced to the UK for the first time by the East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative (EMPSC). 

The project piloted an international prevalence audit of common problems faced by care home residents such as pressure ulcers, incontinence and falls. Since this project was introduced in 2015, it has contributed to significant improvements to the standards of care provided in East Midlands care homes. 

The national Patient Safety Collaborative (PSC) programme – the largest patient safety initiative in the history of the NHS – is funded by NHS Improvement and aims to build a culture of safety, continuous learning and improvement across the health and care system. East Midlands Patient Safety Collaborative has used the ‘React to…’ suite of resources as part of its support offer to East Midlands care homes.

Karen McEwan, the Trust’s Quality Improvement Matron and currently seconded by the EMPSC two days a week said about the new training resources: “These resources are eagerly awaited by care home staff, to enable them to provide training for their staff to prevent and manage falls, with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of life for care home residents. Although aimed at care home staff initially these resources will also be available to Trust staff to support the agenda to reduce falls to our patients.”

Cheryl Crocker, Regional Lead for the Patient Safety Programme at East Midlands Academic Health Science Network, said:   “East Midlands PSC is delighted to be working with Nottinghamshire Healthcare and the creators of the ‘React to…’ series.   Together, we have responded to requests from care home staff across the region for more resources to help them improve on key care quality indicators and are delighted with the resulting suite of accessible and comprehensive training and reference materials. The first resource - React to Red - has had a significant and positive impact within the care homes who have adopted this as part of their staff learning and development.  The ‘React to…’ resources were presented by the authors, Sarah Pankhurst from Nottingham Citycare Partnership and Kate Robertson at our annual LPZ event this month and were well received by the 100 care home staff there on the day. With continued and wider use these resources will have real impact across the residential care sector and lead to even better care for their residents.”

The React to Falls and React to Feet resources are the latest editions to the Trust’s 'React to…' series, which includes the React to Red (pressure ulcer prevention) and React to Moisture (preventing and managing moisture lesions), with more in the pipeline.  The training resources are available to download at www.reactto.co.uk, a dedicated website for all the Trust’s 'React to…' resources.

The React to Falls resources have been developed by Professor Pip Logan, Dr Katie Robinson, Katherine Jones, Dr Jane Horne, Jane Balmbra, and Kate Robertson from the University of Nottingham in collaboration with clinical colleagues at Nottinghamshire Healthcare.

React to Feet was co-written by Sarah Pankhurst, Head of Tissue Viability, Nottingham CityCare Partnership, and Lisa Metcalfe, Specialist Diabetes Podiatrist Nottinghamshire Healthcare.