Supporting residents who have fallen in their home is now faster, safer and swifter thanks to the NHS and care partners are working together to provide specialist equipment.
Urgent community response staff, ambulance crews, care homes and carers have been equipped with specialist chairs, thanks to investment from Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System. The innovative chairs support staff working in health and care to get people back on their feet as soon as possible, helping avoid unnecessary hospital trips.
The ‘Raizer chairs,’ now situated in over 100 care homes, mean teams can safely lift people back to either a seated or standing position following a fall. Falling can be a distressing experience, the chair enables the person to maintain eye contact and communication with the fallen person during the lifting process.
Non-injury falls can result in avoidable ambulance call outs. It’s estimated that 1,000 care home residents in the UK will fall every day, of which 45% are uninjured and do not require conveyance to hospital*
Initial evaluation has shown that when the chairs have been used in care homes, the number of ambulance callouts from these homes has reduced by up to 69%.
Jenny Reid, Adalah Care Home Manager in Leigh-on-Sea said, “At Adalah we’ve used the Raizer chair several times for our residents, and before we were either using a hoist to get them off the floor, which was very awkward to get into small gaps, or we would call an ambulance and the person would be waiting on the floor”.
“Now with the Raizer chair, all my staff have been trained to use the equipment and we can get them up off the floor and it is much better for the residents”.
Dr Ronan Fenton, Medical Director for the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System said, “We are always looking for new innovations and opportunities to improve the quality of care we provide to local residents. The Raizer Chair initiative is a fantastic example of how we are supporting our staff to provide the best possible care.
“Feedback shows that the ease at which people can now lift people from the floor has been a huge help to health and care staff as well as local residents. It has made the process of helping someone when they fall much smoother and safer than it was previously, everyone involved deserves enormous credit and I am delighted to see this work being recognised.”
