Implementing an Effective Falls Detection Programme in Care Homes
Falls are one of the leading causes of injury and hospitalisation among care home residents, making them a significant health risk for residents and a financial burden for care providers. A well-structured falls detection program can help reduce the negative outcomes that come from falls - through ensuring faster response times, reducing complications, and enhancing the overall safety and wellbeing of residents. However, putting a successful program in place requires more than just standard monitoring, what’s needed is an advanced, proactive, technology-driven approach, which can also integrate seamlessly into care home operations.
Key Steps to Implementing a Successful Falls Detection Program
1. Assess Risk
Before diving into choosing and implementing the right falls detection program, care homes must first assess any existing risk factors. That way, care homes can tailor their falls detection approach to focus on higher-risk individuals and areas.
Some key approaches include reviewing past falls data, helping care homes identify patterns, assessing residents’ mobility and medical conditions, to determine who may need the solutionselect the right technology and understanding environmental risks that could be contributing to falls.
Evaluating these risks and environmental factors can better prepare providers, helping them identify the right solution for their home.
2. Invest in Advanced Falls Detection Technology
Traditional falls alerting systems often rely on wearables or even manual intervention, such as call bells or wearable alarms, which can be delayed, unreliable, or even ineffective. The next generation of falls detection technology leverages developing AI-driven monitoring, real-time alerts, and unobtrusive digital systems that ensure instant detection and response.
Advanced falls technology such as Lilli’s falls solution eliminates the need for wearables by using advanced, radar-based sensors to monitor resident activity and identify falls automatically and most importantly, instantly. This non-intrusive solution enhances safety by:
- Detecting falls in real-time without requiring resident or carer intervention
- Providing instant alerts to caregivers, reducing response times and risks that come with delayed responses
- Offering AI-driven insights through analysing breathing rate and heart rate to help understand the reason for the fall
3. Train Staff for Quick Response and Efficient Use of the Tech
Technology is only effective when paired with a well-trained care team. To make sure care homes are getting the most out of the technology they are adopting, they should:
- Provide staff training on how to work with the falls detection solution and respond to falls alerts efficiently
- Ensure seamless integration of falls detection alerts into their everyday work and workflows
- Educate staff on how to use data insights to their advantage and to adjust care plans for residents at risk
By integrating Lilli’s automatic advanced detection system into everyday care routines, teams can optimise and improve their response times and prevent long-lie risks that could come from more passively reactive emergency interventions.
4. Leverage Data for Continuous Improvement
Falls detection isn’t just about reacting to incidents - it’s about responding swiftly and understanding the circumstances around a fall, which could help prevent future occurrences. The best falls detection programmes analyse relevant data to identify potential trends and risks that affect a fall, and improve care strategies. This could be through assessing residents’ breathing rate and heart rate, which could be indicators of health conditions and risk factors in the context of a fall. With Lilli’s technology, care homes would also gain access to:
- Generating detailed reports, including information about who attended each fall, the causes and the outcomes, to support compliance with CQC requirements
- Insights into behavioural changes, such as reduced mobility or increased nighttime wandering
- Data insights help track patterns, predict risks, and improve care outcomes over time
- Real-time monitoring, featuring an intuitive and simple dashboard accessible for teams of all backgrounds and experience levels
Through the use of relevant insights and data, and the approach of the digital solution, care homes can make informed decisions to reduce risks, minimise future falls and enhance overall resident safety.
The Future of Falls Detection in Care Homes
Technology is now an essential part of any care provider’s long-term success. Care homes that implement advanced falls detection solutions are not only improving resident safety, but also reducing unnecessary hospital admissions, lowering operational costs and enhancing staff efficiency. By leveraging Lilli’s unobtrusive falls detection technology, care providers can move away from outdated and less reliable reactive models and embrace a smarter solution that improves care and delivers measurable value.
Ready to transform how you detect and respond to falls? Book a Lilli demo today and see the difference.