Falls prevention app helps reduce care home ambulance call-outs

A falls prevention app has been adopted by 37 care homes and 25 GP practices in Greater Manchester after a 12-month trial led to a 57% reduction in ambulance call-outs.

The Safe Steps app is a digital risk assessment tool that enables carers to identify adults who are at high risk of suffering a fall by providing criteria that care teams can use to help mitigate risk factors and create personalised action plans for individuals.

A pilot which took place in Bury between April 2023 to March 2024, led to a 38% reduction in falls, a 57% reduction in the number of ambulance call-outs to care homes, and a 12% reduction in patients taken into hospital.

The pilot was part of the Bury Safe Steps programme, a collaboration between Bury Integrated Delivery Collaborative (IDC), SafeSteps, and Health Innovation Manchester.

Saif Ahmed, clinical lead for transformation at Health Innovation Manchester, said: “To achieve a 57% reduction in ambulance call outs in Bury when the number is increasing across Greater Manchester is a phenomenal achievement.

“It’s not only a testament to the transformative impact of proactive technology, but to effective collaboration between healthcare providers and industry, ultimately resulting in better outcomes for care home residents”.

Health Innovation Manchester worked with GPs to ensure primary care teams could use Safe Steps to access RESTORE2 health screening information recorded by care staff. This information allows care teams to recognise when a resident might be at risk deteriorating and take actions to protect their wellbeing.

Clare Hunter, project manager at Bury IDC, said: “This new concept not only improves patient care, ensuring that the person is treated in the right place at the right time but also streamlines processes making clinical time more effective and efficient within primary care and secondary care, as well as alleviating pressures on North West Ambulance Service”.

According to Health Innovation Manchester,  other areas of Greater Manchester which did not take part in the pilot, saw a 10% increase in falls in Q1 2024.

Lee Omar, chief executive at Safe Steps, said: “If we were to model the reduction of falls in Bury across Greater Manchester, this amounts to a saving of £5.1million in just 12 months.

“This could help tackle current NHS financial pressures as well as reducing the pressure on ambulance staff and improving the quality of life for people living in care homes”.

Health Innovation Manchester plans to publish a paper advocating the adoption of Safe Steps across other localities in the region, suggesting it could save NHS Greater Manchester almost £500,000 a year if successfully implemented.

Meanwhile, a study published by digital health company Cera in May 2024 suggested that the NHS could save £1bn a year by adopting AI tools designed to predict falls and keep older patients out of hospital.