The most common causes of falls in the elderly include poor eyesight and hearing, weak muscles, slow reflexes, low blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, arthritis, and depression. Furthermore, some medications may cause dizziness or confusion which increase an elderly person’s risk of falling.
More than one in four people aged 65 or older fall each year. In addition to the risk of injury, falls can cause an elder person to develop an ongoing fear of falling. This fear can cause them to avoid activity, making their muscles weak, thus further increasing their risk of falling.
Through understanding the causes of falls, social care providers can be better placed to conduct a fall risk assessment and implement appropriate fall prevention strategies.
While falls can affect people of all ages, they are a particular concern for the elderly. This article will focus on the causes of elderly falls and conclude with a look at how technology enabled care (TEC) can reduce the risk of falls.
Having a CQC visit checklist in place allows all services within the health and social care sector to be prepared when it comes to CQC inspections.
In health and social care, the scrutiny of regulatory bodies ensures that the quality and safety of care services do not fall below a certain threshold. In England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the regulatory body and it plays a crucial role in encouraging care services to improve while providing safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care.
CQC inspections are thorough assessments that are carried out to ensure care services are meeting the essential standards of quality and safety. To prepare for the inspections and to maintain or even improve standards, care services often carry out a mock CQC inspection. This is basically a rehearsal for the real thing and highlights areas that are doing well and areas that need to be improved before the real thing is carried out.
At The Access Group, we have over 30 years of experience working with care services across the UK and we know the importance of being prepared for regulatory body inspections. This article contains information on the importance of CQC mock inspections, what they are and how to carry them out correctly. With our help, we hope that you’ll feel confident and prepared with our CQC inspection checklist.
Safeguarding elderly with dementia is essential for protecting the health, well-being and human rights of individuals that use the care system. These are usually the most vulnerable so need protection more than ever. In the UK, safeguarding is a vital practice to ensure that everyone, particularly vulnerable adults, children and young people, live lives free from abuse, harm and neglect.
We at The Access Group pride ourselves on the security and safety that our software has to offer. We have been working with care services throughout the country for the past 30 years and aim to improve the lives of everyone who utilise our platforms. Over the years, our experience has allowed us to create content like this that can be used to aid and protect people working and living in care.
The article delves into the intricacies of safeguarding, with a particular focus on dementia safeguarding. We will explore how to protect those affected by this condition and the policies and procedures you can put in place to support them and their carers.
A successful work-life balance is so important in whatever role you are in, being a care worker is known for being very rewarding, but also emotionally and physically demanding.
Many carers go ‘above and beyond’ what might be expected of them. While this is admirable it is important to maintain a balance. Not having that respite could result in social care losing some of its best people.
Staff retention in social care is extremely important when it comes to ensuring consistent high-quality care and maintaining the well-being of both caregivers and service users. Caring for vulnerable people is an enormously demanding job that can lead to staff burnout and high turnover rates if care staff aren’t receiving a sufficient amount of support in their role. Losing members of the team can have a detrimental effect on the overall performance of a care service and the comfort of their service users.
By investing in the wellbeing of your workforce, your care service will be best placed to deliver continuous exceptional care which will boost the overall success and rating of the business. We at The Access Group have been working with care services for over 30 years, helping them adapt to a digital way of life, and have seen how different care services are able to better retain staff than others. This article explores the effective strategies to retain care staff, why it’s important to do so and how digitisation can help.
A fall risk assessment should be considered for anyone who is elderly or suffering from a disability. The risk assessment is conducted by a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or exercise therapist, and involves using a risk assessment tool that considers a person’s individual risk factors.
While fall risk assessments tend to be focused on the elderly, falls can affect all age groups including the young and middle-aged. Irrespective of age, falls can lead to injury and loss of confidence, to the detriment of a person’s wellbeing, confidence, and quality of life.
In this article we will explain what falls risk assessments involve, compare different types of falls risk assessments, and examine the best falls risk assessment tools. Finally we will have a look at how technology enabled care (TEC) can offer a solution for people assessed as having a high falls risk.
Fall prevention is best tackled with a multifaceted approach. This includes traditional methods such as promoting healthy lifestyles, strengthening family and social networks, and facilitating functional exercise programmes. Looking forward, fall detection technology is progressing rapidly and offers new and innovative devices for preventing falls.
While falls are a major concern for the elderly, they can affect people of all ages. There are a number of risk factors that make falls more likely. These include underlying medical conditions, side effects of medication, poor mobility, low blood pressure, and dehydration.
But are falls preventable?
The answer is a resounding yes. Falls are not a normal part of ageing, and they can be prevented using interventions that are proven and evidence based. A study of randomised trials in fall prevention found a variety of effective interventions including strength training, Tai Chi, home modification, and withdrawal of psychotropic medications.
This article discusses the most effective strategies regarding falls and fall prevention and concludes with a look at the latest fall prevention solutions, including technology enabled care (TEC).
Handovers in care homes should accurately convey information about residents’ conditions and needs across shift changes. They ensure that everyone is made aware of everything significant that has occurred before they start their shift. This process safeguards the continued safety of both residents and staff.
Handover notes are handwritten or electronic documents that a member of staff completes and shares with the person relieving them of their shift. They should list the tasks that have been recently completed, any updates, and instructions for the next shift.
In this article we will explore the best ways to carry out an effective handover in your care home and discuss how handover templates can help the process.
The CQC single assessment framework is now live for all adult social care
providers across the country and the new CQC provider portal is currently live for selected providers, with limited functionality, e.g. restricted to some notification types.
With the Single Assessment Framework, the CQC is aiming for a more dynamic and data-led strategy that puts people’s experiences at the forefront of regulation and the heart of the assessment framework.
As a care provider, it’s crucial that you understand the new inspection regime and how these significant changes to the way they regulate and inspect may affect you. This article has been created to help you understand more about the CQC's new inspection and assessment framework and the background to these changes.
You can also download this comprehensive guide, and sign up for our compliance experts' monthly updates on everything CQC.
Dignity in care should be a priority for everyone working in the care sector. Promoting respect and dignity in care should focus on how care is designed and delivered. Both dignity and respect in health and social care form the fundamental pillars that shape the quality of a service that is provided to an individual and when implemented correctly, it can improve the interactions between service users and carers as well as their quality of life.
But preserving and promoting dignity and respect in care is sometimes easier said than done. How can you ensure staff know how to strike the balance between providing care and support, without compromising people’s dignity? The first step to preserving dignity in health and social care is understanding what it means and why it’s so important.
For over 30 years, we at The Access Group have digitised care services across the world. We aim to improve the lives of both service users and providers by giving them the freedom to do more. Working in the care sector for decades, we’ve seen great examples of how you can ensure dignity and respect. This article has been created from those experiences, to explore the definition and significance of respect and dignity in care, alongside various things you can do to promote and preserve it in your service.
