The development of a falls prevention and management toolkit for hospices

In 2008 a small group of people in the UK were brought together at the invitation of the charity Help the Hospices and with the support of the National Patient Safety Agency to create a falls prevention and management toolkit. The purpose of the toolkit was to assist hospices to manage and if possible prevent falls in their in-patient units and day care centres.This Falls Prevention Working Group put together a policy, care plan, and incident report form designed to enable an accurate and effective assessment of patients' needs and minimise harm while supporting patient independence. A draft version of the toolkit was trialled by nine hospices in 2009. Following revision, a final version was published on the Help the Hospices and Patient Safety First websites in 2010 and introduced with workshops in two separate locations in the UK. This paper provides an overview of the development process and presents evidence, albeit limited, that in-patient falls in hospices are reducing. The toolkit provides outcome measures of better patient care in falls management and prevention.