New Falls Prevention Lead appointed
Anna Skipper has been appointed to a new post; she’ll be leading Falls Prevention and Management as part of our Practice Development Team. The aim is to co-ordinate our approach to falls prevention across inpatient services.
“Falls are distressing for patients and can lead to harm which increases length of stay and the patient may require further treatment,” said Anna.
“Whilst we can’t always prevent a fall, we can work together to make the environment and care the best we can to reduce the risk of a fall.
“The age profile of our patients means that a large proportion of them are at high risk of a fall and the whole ward team needs to work together to reduce that risk.”
Anna’s role will be to focus on national best practice, develop our training, policy and assessment processes and work with the wards to tailor their approach to each patient group, depending on the risk profile.
She also plans to liaise with colleagues across the Integrated Care System (commissioners, other Trusts, social care) to develop a consistent approach.
Anna is a physiotherapist by profession and previously worked for Active Norfolk as Strategic Lead for Population Health promoting the importance of physical activity and before that as Regional Lead monitoring the quality of health and disability assessments.
“I’ve received a warm welcome here and I’m really pleased to see that there is enthusiasm for preventing falls with our ward champions already helping to improve the quality of care we deliver,” said Anna.