Falls

Key facts

  • Every day 8,000 older and frail people fall over
  • 70% of falls occur at night
  • Falls account for 10% of acute hospital admissions in the UK
  • Hip fractures, usually as a result of falls, cost the NHS £1.7bn a year
  • 1 in 5 older people who fracture a hip die within 6 months

Suggested care package

Bed occupancy sensor, fall detector, PIR (movement detector)

Solution

The fear of falling can be a significant factor in the loss of independence and quality of life.

Tunstall’s falls management solution for people vulnerable to falling can play a key role in reducing the number and impact of falls, whilst providing valuable reassurance, increasing confidence and promoting peace of mind.

As the majority of falls happen at night, Tunstall’s bed occupancy sensor provides an early warning by alerting the response centre or designated carer that the person has left their bed and not returned during a pre set time period, indicating a possible fall.

Tunstall’s fall detector, worn on a belt around the waist, senses the impact and angle of a fall and raises an immediate response from the 24-hour monitoring centre or designated carer via the intelligent LifeLine home unit if assistance is required. The detector can also be activated manually by an integrated trigger, enabling people to live more independently and with the reassurance that help can be quickly summoned if required.

Tunstall’s PIR movement detector raises an alert if a long period of inactivity is detected, signalling if a person has not moved around their home and that they may have fallen.

Case study

Mrs L has a tendency to visit the bathroom in the night. Normally not a problem, but on a couple of occasions has tripped on a misplaced slipper. The second time she was unable to get up and call for help, and lay on the bathroom floor for six hours until her daughter fortunately visited the following morning.

A bed sensor was installed which gently turns on a bedside light when Mrs L leaves her bed at night, lowering it automatically upon return. A timer raises an alarm to response centre if Mrs L hasn't returned to her bed after a pre determined time.

Mrs L said: “I know my confidence went. At first I didn’t like the idea but now I think if I don’t make it back to bed, I won’t have to worry about spending another night on the floor.”

View - Falls management solution sheet
View - Falls video case study