The College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section – Older People Falls Forum is affiliated to the National Occupational Therapy Falls Database and email site, developed at the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust.
The database has over 350 members who work with individuals at risk of falling or who have an interest in 'falls management'. All members who join the forum will have an opportunity to join the secure email site. This facility is used as a 'chat room' enabling members to correspond directly with each other, sharing information and ideas on good practice. The email site is also used as a way of informing members of new research, training opportunities, and national and local developments.
National Audit of the Organisation of Services for Falls and Bone Health in Older People - Update
The clinical audit is now completed and steering group met on 18th October to finalise the report that went to the Healthcare Commission. This is now available to view on http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/college/ceeu/fbhop . This has been a large piece of work that has yielded some interesting results. Please read the summary report for key headings. This should be compared with each trusts own results.
Thank you again to all those participated in the audit process at a local level.
Skills for Health Competencies in Falls and Bone Health
The steering group for these competencies is in the final stages of completing this piece of work. Once we have more information we will update this site.
National e-Care Pathway for Falls
Following on from the work of the ‘Do Once and Share’ falls (DOAS) pathway initiative in 2006, work is underway to produce an electronic falls care pathway and this forms part of the work of the Connecting for Health initiative. Kate Robertson will be representing COTSS- OP on this group. No further information is currently available, but we will keep you updated.
Falls Guidance Document
'The College of Occupational Therapists Guidance Document - Falls Management' (2006) developed by members of the Falls Forum and published by the College of Occupational Therapists can be downloaded via the COT Professional Practice page.
Forum Member Contact details
We recently sent out an email to all members of the forum to check that all email contact details are correct. If you received this email then all is correct and you do not need to do anything more. If you did not receive an email and there are some people whose emails bounce back, please older.people.membership@cot.co.uk in membership to change your contact details.
The forum leads will use this method to contact members between newsletters with information and news.
For further information on the falls Forum and an application form please contact:
Kate Robertson.
Email: katerober74@aol.com
Catherina Nolan
Email: catherina.nolan@imperial.nhs.uk
