First successful study day for Peninsula Falls Network

On 21st June 2012, the newly established Peninsula Falls Network held a study day in Plymouth, which was attended by 59 delegates, all from the South West region.

The day was organised by Vicki Goodwin (PenCLAHRC, PCMD), Hilary Gunn and Bernhard Haas (Plymouth University). Featured presentations and research updates included:
• Preventing falls in hospitals (Ros Wade, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital)
• Preventing falls in care homes (Julie Whitney, King’s College London)

Local clinicians also demonstrated how they have undertaken service developments that have shown reductions in falls
• in hospital (Claire Burcham, South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust)
• in units with dementia sufferers (Tarina Luscombe and Tamsin Jones, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust)
• by implementing community exercise programmes (Jane Reddaway, Torbay and Southern Devon Care Trust)

The Senior Commissioner of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust (CIOSPCT), Rachel Murray, also presented their work in Cornwall in commissioning non-NHS organisations to provide evidence-based postural stability classes. She was joined by the enthusiastic Mark Howells, who runs five of the classes and Mollie Jenkins, a 90-year-old participant of one of the classes. Mollie had become housebound as a result of falling and had lost her confidence, but as a result of the classes she is now regularly catching the bus to Truro.

Feedback from presenters and delegates indicated that the day had been really useful:

“the speakers were all well-versed in their subject matter and the presentations were practical and relevant. It was the best one day conference I've been to in a long time … and the cakes were nice too!”

The Peninsula Falls Network hope to run a similar event next year and are currently preparing the next edition of their newsletter – you can email victoria.goodwin@pms.ac.uk if you would like to receive it. You can also find out more information by visiting the Falls Project Page.

If you would like further information about falls prevention or finding help through exercise you may be interested in the following:

Postural stability classes in Cornwall, run by Mark Howells

8th World Congress on Active Aging in August 2012

13th International Falls and Postural Stability Conference in September

A Report from the Royal College of Physicians earlier this year about older people’s experiences of falls exercise programmes