Falls (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)
High level priorities
- Through assessment of the latest evidence and via consultation with local services and staff, a number of high-level priorities around this agenda have been identified [11] [12] [13]
- A shift in focus towards the prevention of falls, as well as the recovery afterwards, must happen among providers of all services that come into contact with older adults and their families and / or carers.
- A campaign to educate people on the risks of falls and ways to reduce that risk must be available to the general public, which takes account of peoples' general reluctance to let people know once a fall has occurred.
- Education on falls prevention needs to be available in formats accessible and familiar to all older adults.
- General practitioners and other health and social care providers, such as Neighbourhood Teams and Help to Live at Home providers, Community Health Teams need to be supported with appropriate education, information, and innovative ways to educate the people they are supporting / providing care to, and their families on the risk of, and prevention of falls.
- All stakeholders need to include lifestyle factors in their approach to falls prevention e.g. diet, alcohol and substance misuse, social isolation, physical inactivity to name only a few. This could also extend to awareness around poorly fitting footwear, household hazards such as items causing trips and falls, and poor lighting in the home.
- Links between the local authority, third party providers (voluntary and private services not connected with the NHS or local authority) and the Health Services must continue to be supported and developed further. Adult and social care professionals must be included in the development and implementation of these efforts.
- A variety of providers and venues need to be supported to provide exercise, physical and social activity options appropriate to a range of people across the spectrums of ages and abilities.
- An identified need to consider how we respond as a system and as individuals to someone who has had a fall and use that event as a trigger to understand the underlying factors and what interventions are required to prevent further risk of falls.
