Lead: Pip Logan (University of Nottingham)
Dates: 01 October 2021 – Ongoing
Background:
Falls among care home residents are a significant problem, and reducing their incidence is a key aim of many care homes. Over the past 20 years, a falls screening and action checklist, called the Guide to Action to Prevent Falls (GtA), with a training package and manual to accompany it, has been developed, assessed, validated and adapted to care home use through a series of studies. The feasibility, and cost and clinical effectiveness, of the Care Home-specific version was evaluated in the largest care home study in the UK, and it was found to be feasible, and both clinically and cost-effective. The results of this study were published in 2021.
The implementation of the checklist, outside a research study set-up, was tested in a study in the East Midlands, and, in co-ordination with care home staff, residents and other stakeholders, and incorporating new literature, formatting and design, the GtACH was updated, and the name was changed to Action Falls. Having conducted a regional implementation study of Action Falls, this was then expanded, with new research funding, to research the implementation of Action Falls in four UK locations, across 60 care homes, in the current study – the Implementation of the Action Falls prevention programme into UK Care Homes (FinCH Imp Nat) study.
Institutional Partners:
Nottingham University Hospitals (NHS) Trust; Leicestershire County Council (Local Government); University of Newcastle, Kings College London; NHS Bromley CCG; Northumbria-Healthcare NHS Trust.
ARC partners:
ARC East Midlands (Lead)
ARC West Midlands
ARC North East North Cumbria
ARC South London
Aims and objectives:
The purpose of the study is to research the best techniques to enable adoption of the Action Falls Programme across 60 care homes in four UK regions.
Methods:
- Set up four UK study sites by establishing teams of researchers, care homeowners and staff and falls leads.
- Train falls leads in each location in the Action Falls programme. They then train care home staff to deliver the Action Falls programme in 60 care homes.
- Establish Action Falls Collaboratives (AFC) in each location, and explore the experiences of care home staff using the Action Falls Programme with residents, and the barriers and facilitators that influence implementation.
- Collect data on implementation of the Action Falls Programme from care home staff using the NOMAD questionnaire at two time points.
- Collect field notes and observation data at the AFC events to understand the implementation of the Action Falls programme in the care homes and to evaluate the AFC method.
- Complete interviews and focus groups with care home staff to explore use of the Action Falls programme.
- Complete a focus group with all falls leads to explore the barriers and facilitators to training care home staff.
- Collect monthly falls data from each home.
- Produce case studies at an individual resident, care home and regional level, of how the Action Falls programme has impacted on outcomes.
- Produce guidance for care homes to self-monitor their falls rates.
- Produce an Action Falls “adopt and spread” toolkit for use in additional sites.
- Work with other stake holders explore how to drive the sustainability of the Action Falls programme in the real world.
Further information:
Further information can be found on the FinCH Imp website.
Protocol:
N/A
Publication:
Submitted – outcome awaited