Ivybank House, managed by leading Scottish care provider Meallmore, has introduced a new wellbeing programme called ‘Happy Feet’ to mitigate the risk of resident falls.
Happy Feet ensures residents receive tailored support to improve potential individual healthcare challenges, including falls.
A team of six staff at the home met monthly to develop the programme over six months. They evaluated variables such as environment, medication, exercise, and nutrition against residents’ likelihood to experience a fall.
The first step of the programme involved assessing all residents for their level of fall risk. A system using small colour coded feet was used by care home staff to enable them to identify corresponding risk.
A key part of the programme called ‘Hydrate to Motivate’ involved distributing water bottles to high-risk residents. Every hour, staff attended each resident to monitor how much water they had consumed. During this time, short walks or simple exercise activities were also encouraged.
After six months, the number of falls has reduced, and the home has since continued the programme with residents who are deemed a high-risk.
Ivybank House Manager, Julie Newman, said: “We take the prevention of falls very seriously at Ivybank, and it has been fantastic to see the tangible results showing how this initiative has further elevated the high standard of care. While falls are a rare occurrence, we recognise the dangers of falls for our residents, and this initiative ensures we are doing all we can to mitigate any risk.
“Happy Feet is the outcome of the dedicated team at Ivybank bringing together their expertise and I look forward to exploring further ways in which we can improve the wellbeing of our residents.”
Ivybank House, located in Polmont, is run by Meallmore Ltd and provides excellent standards of care for its residents, including those living with dementia.