SaTH says it is working hard on preventing falls in hospital
The Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals says it is working hard to prevent patients from falling.
In 2011/12 five patients sadly died following falls at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals, The Princess Royal in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury.
The issue of falls is one that affects the whole of the NHS. According to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), there will be between 5-18 falls per 1,000 bed-days in acute hospitals. Factors such as cognitive impairment (delirium or dementia), previous falls, continence issues and medication can make patients at even greater risk.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the two hospitals, has been co-operating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) with their investigations into these sad incidents. Last year, the Trust admitted a breach of Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Expert evidence suggests that, even had all preventative measures been in place, the falls may still not have been avoidable.
During sentencing, the judge in this case recognised that SaTH had demonstrated good early reporting, co-operated fully with the HSE, taken remedial steps to raise standards, had good health and safety processes in place and had shown a sincere interest in improving care and had an open culture.
Simon Wright, Chief Executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “I’d like to offer my sincerest condolences to the families of these patients.
“We have fully co-operated at all stages with the HSE and also kept our own Health and Safety Committee up-to-date about the progress of this case.
“We recognise that falls are an issue across the NHS and we have introduced a number of measures to ensure that we reduce the number of falls, particularly those which lead to harm, to an absolute minimum.
“In the five years since these sad cases occurred we have made great improvements in reducing falls. In 2015-16 we reduced the number of falls resulting in serious harm – those which lead to fractured hips – by around a third. Our staff are working tirelessly to reduce the number of falls even further.”
