The theme for National Falls Awareness week this year is: ‘Turning Awareness into Action’.
With this as inspiration, Health and Social Care services within Lincolnshire supporting individuals at risk of falls are encouraged to make a “falls pledge” within the month of September.
The pledge is an achievable commitment that you will implement over the next month to further develop your provisions relating to falls.
A Government report (See Falls: Applying All Our Health) suggests that:
- falls were the ninth highest cause of disability-adjusted life years in England and were also the leading cause of injury.
- the financial cost to the UK of fragility fractures alone is estimated at £4.4 billion (£1.1 billion of which is for social care).
There are many preventative measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of someone falling and some of these strategies, with appropriate support and guidance, could be completed by individuals themselves.
Make your pledge!
Pledge examples are:
- To signpost eligible individuals (and informal carers) we are supporting to the Strength and Balance training which has already started in parts of the County (N.B. you may need to do this before September as there is a cut off point for new members to the programme!)
- To ask service users and informal carers we are supporting that use a walking stick or walking frame, if the rubber ferrules (found at the bottom of their mobility aid) can be checked, to see if they may need replacing.
- To put something in place to facilitate/encourage individuals and informal carers to let us know they have fallen, even if they didn’t need any input from us, as a fall within the past 12 months is the highest scoring risk factor for having a further fall.
There are several great resources that can help your organisation with preparing your pledge. The links provided are a great place to start!
Please do share your pledge with us and your networks the progress you have made and the impact of any changes you have been able to demonstrate.
Let’s encourage our colleagues to make a pledge too by sharing our good practice.
Resources