Patient safety work to reduce falls at South Tyneside hospital to be shared across the NHS

A new initiative to help reduce in-patient falls at South Tyneside District Hospital is set to be implemented by other NHS organisations across the country thanks to the hard work of staff in South Tyneside to improve patient safety.

South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust was one of only 19 trusts in England selected to take part in NHS Improvement’s Fall Collaborative, with a view to reducing the rate of in-patient falls and sharing examples of best practice and innovation which could be replicated across the NHS.

Staff in South Tyneside developed the ‘falls risk assessment and individualised care plan’ which means all patients aged 65 and over who are admitted to South Tyneside District Hospital are now assessed within 48 hours of admission for their risk of falling.

The work has now been voted as the best idea for other trusts to follow, with fellow participants in the Falls Collaborative planning to adopt the model.

South Tyneside Hospital saw a 53 per cent reduction in the number of falls leading to patient harm in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.

Cuba Thirugnanasothy, the Trust’s falls lead, said: “At the final Falls Collaborative event, every participating Trust was able to showcase their work over the last year. We were delighted when our new falls risk assessment and care plan was voted as the best idea that other Trusts wanted to adopt. There was a lot of interest in it and recognition of how, at South Tyneside, we are looking at falls prevention from a truly multi-disciplinary point of view.”

Melanie Johnson, executive director of nursing and patient experience at the Trust, said: “This is excellent news and well deserved recognition. I would like to say thank you to everyone involved -doctors, nurses, falls specialists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, continence and delirium experts, pharmacy staff and the Falls Collaborative project team - for all their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm to improve patient safety. The success we have had so far in reducing in-patient falls resulting in harm is extremely encouraging and we are committed to improving even further.”

Alison Smith, senior clinical lead for NHS Improvement in Cumbria and the North East, and regional lead for the Falls Collaborative, said: “It's a testament to the energy, enthusiasm and commitment shown by the team at South Tyneside that their work was chosen as the project organisations most wanted to implement themselves. Their efforts are already bearing fruit locally and patients across the whole NHS will benefit from the powerful work of the team in South Tyneside being replicated in other organisations.”