About the programme
Falls are by far the most commonly reported type of patient safety incident in healthcare. Nearly 250,000 falls are reported from acute and community hospitals in England and Wales each year (NHS England and NHS Improvement, The incidence and costs of inpatient falls in hospitals. 2017). Nearly 100,000 of these patients suffer bruises, grazes, lacerations or more serious injuries. (National Patient Safety Agency, Slips trips and falls in hospital, NPSA, Editor. 2007: London).
Around 2000 hip fractures (National Audit of Inpatient Falls, Audit report 2020) and 600 other fractures (National Patient Safety Agency, Slips trips and falls in hospital, NPSA, Editor. 2007: London) are reported each year. 130 deaths associated with falls in hospital were also reported (National Patient Safety Agency, Slips trips and falls in hospital, NPSA, Editor. 2007: London).
The cost of treating falls in hospitals in the UK has been estimated at £630 million per year. (NHS England/Improvement, The incidence and costs of inpatient falls in hospitals. 2017). Although most falls do not result in injury, patients can have psychological and mobility problems as a result of falling.
There are 2 modules available in this elearning programme, developed for nurses and junior doctors, but relevant for all healthcare professionals interested in falls prevention.
Module 1 (FallSafe) is aimed at clinical staff who work in hospital settings including but not limited to nurses, allied health professionals and healthcare assistants.
Module 2 (CareFall) is aimed at, although not limited to, foundation level doctors and includes interactive information about patient and environmental falls risk factors, the patient assessment and post fall management.
Both modules have been designed to complement, not replace, your local falls prevention policies and processes.
More information
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Falls: assessment and prevention of falls in older people, 161 (2013) guidelines now include patients admitted to hospital highlighting the need to address falls.
The National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) is a clinically led, web based audit of inpatient falls prevention care and post fall management in acute, mental health, community and specialist trusts in England and Wales. NAIF aims to improve inpatient falls prevention and post fall care through audit and quality improvement. More information about hospital falls is available on the National Audit of Inpatient Falls website.
How to access
In order to access any elfh programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Preventing Falls in Hospital: Fallsafe/Carefall programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
If you already have an account with elfh, then you can enrol on to the Preventing Falls in Hospital: Fallsafe/Carefall programme by logging in to the elfh Hub, selecting My Account > Enrolment and selecting the programme. You can then access the programme immediately in the My e-Learning section.
NHS healthcare staff in England – ESR
The Preventing Falls in Hospital: Fallsafe/Carefall programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this e-learning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
Further details are available here.
Not an NHS organisation?
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
Registering large numbers of users
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Preventing Falls in Hospital: Fallsafe/Carefall programme, please contact elfh directly.
Organisations wishing to use their own LMS
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
More information
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.