Say Goodbye To Trips & Falls In Your Care Home Part 4
Anyone can have a fall, but older people and people with reduced mobility are more vulnerable to them. Trips and falls happen for many reason, and can often be unavoidable. Not only can falls and trips cause physical damage - bumps, bruises, and fractured bones - but they can also have a psychological impact, damaging confidence.
According to Age UK, every minute six people over the age of 65 suffer a fall, some of which result in minor injuries, while other falls result in more severe consequences. Statistics show that injuries resulting from trips and falls are the most common cause of death in the UK of those aged 75 and over. So taking precautions to prevent falls should be seen as vital by care home staff.
To help you to keep your residents safe, we have addressed the main causes of falls in care home environments. We have also delved into health and mobility risk factors that can contribute to falls, highlighting actions that can help to ensure the safety of your residents.
As the owner or manager of a care home, you will be aware of your responsibility to ensure that there are fall prevention measures in place. This means making sure that all team members are properly trained to help prevent trips and falls and keep residents safe, it also means ensuring that all residents have a trip and fall prevention plan in place.
Care home layout:
Previously, we’ve spoken about the importance of getting the layout of your care home right to make life easier and less stressful for dementia sufferers. Of course, as well as catering to the specific needs of your residents with dementia, it’s also important to ensure that you have taken the steps to modify the layout of your care home to help your team members to prevent trips and falls for all residents.
Although some trips and falls sadly cannot be prevented, with some minor modifications to the design and layout of your care home, you can make trips much less likely to occur. One of the key things when preventing accidents in your care home is ensuring that it is a space that’s free of clutter. If your care home is cluttered, there’s more for your residents to trip over, so it’s crucial that you keep it a clutter-free space at all times.
Another common cause of trips and falls is unsecured carpets and rugs. To make trips and falls less likely, all rugs and carpets should be properly secured with the use of grip mats. The same applies to bath mats - these should also be properly secured, both inside and outside of the shower or bath.
The pattern of the flooring in your care home can also play a part in how likely trips and falls are to occur. This is because flooring that has a dark pattern can make it hard for residents with vision problems or dementia to work out where the carpet ends and a step occurs, making falls more likely. So wherever possible, it’s best to select flooring that is plain and free from any heavy patterns.
