Peer Group 28 Mar 2019: Safe Recovery Team

BAIL was pleased to present an update on The Safe Recovery Programme (SRP).

Over the past eight months, BAIL has had the privilege of working with CDHB staff to evaluate a falls prevention pilot project implemented within four wards at Burwood Hospital. SRP aims to reduce the number of falls that patients have while in hospital. In contrast to many other falls prevention programmes which focus on changing staff behaviours and ward risk-minimisation practices, the SRP uses patient-directed education and individualised goal-setting as its key mechanism for reducing falls risk.

The team used a mix of methods to explore to what extent, and how, the SRP was effective in reducing the number and severity of falls within four wards at Burwood Hospital, CDHB. First, de-identified process and outcome audit data collected by the CDHB as part of their audit process (data on the process of care related to the falls prevention programme, data on falls related outcomes including number, severity and time of falls, and feedback surveys undertaken by patients and staff) was analysed. Second, qualitative interviews and focus groups were used to explore the views of patients, staff and volunteers on the experience of the falls programme. Both the qualitative data and audit data has been used to explicate an overall evaluative account of how the SRP works within Burwood Hospital – for whom it works (or not), and what the key mechanisms of action are.

They are in the final stages of analysis and hope to disseminate results in the next month or so. They will write an evolution report for the CDHB, present findings at national and international conferences, and write a paper for publication. They will also report findings to the SRP development team based in Australia. Overall the collaboration with CDHB and BAIL has contributed to a robust evaluation, to a deeper understanding of how SRP worked in the Burwood context, and how SRP could best be used in other settings, thereby contributing to its use nationally and internationally.