New falls prevention course helps some of the county’s most vulnerable older people

Company news

May 11, 2015

The award winning team at Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre has begun offering a new chair-based exercise (CBE) course for people who are unable to take on the centre’s successful falls prevention course due to physical frailty.

The six-session course is led by experienced registered physiotherapist Lawrence Carmel, who recently gained additional qualifications in order to run the fortnightly sessions. The aim of the course is to improve the participant’s strength and mobility in a seated position and, for those who are able, build towards doing the exercises in a standing position.

Lawrence explained: “We have been running our falls prevention class for a year. It has proved very popular with our patients and it has received good feedback from those who completed the class. The evidence based exercises reduce the number of people having further falls and also have an impact on the length of hospital stays for rehabilitation following falls, so saving costs for NHS hospitals.

“However, we realised that some of the people most at risk were unable to take the OTAGO exercise programme due to poor mobility, lack of muscle strength and balance issues. For this type of patient a fall could be catastrophic; it affects their confidence level, they become more dependent, it decreases their mobility and strength and also reduces their chances to socialise.”

Lawrence investigated how he could help this group of patients – this motivated him to train and qualify as a CBE instructor. Patients seen at the centre in Old Wells Road who are assessed as being at high risk of falling, either at their pre-operative visit or at their post- operative follow-up, are being offered a place on the course. Patients undergo comprehensive clinical assessment at their first session and they will then join the standing OTAGO class or the seated CBE class.

Lawrence said “We concentrate on exercises that will have application in real life situations so that those attending are less likely to fall as they take care of their personal hygiene, work in the garden, get in and out of cars or do their shopping independently.”

Lawrence is now working with a multi-disciplinary team in the centre to ensure that those most at risk can join the class at the earliest opportunity.

He said: “Colleagues assess patients and they identify those who are at a particularly high risk of a fall. That way we can get them on to the course as quickly as possible to try to prevent a life-changing fall that could see them spending months in hospital or permanently moving out of their home.”