THE amount of falls reported at one of Worcestershire’s three major hospitals rocketed in the final three months of last year – including one where the patient died as a result.
A report presented to the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust at a meeting on Wednesday, February 25 showed 308 falls were reported across the organisation between July and September last year, but this shot up to 422 between October and December.
This included a patient who suffered a fractured femur after falling over in while being treated in the women and children division of the trust – which runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital – and died as a result of complications.
The trust’s chief nursing officer Lindsey Webb said the increase was “disappointing”.
“Unfortunately many of these patients are those who are fit to discharge but are waiting,” she said.
An investigation into the death was carried out and as a result all patients and relatives are now given leaflets on preventing falls and dedicated audits are being carried out on a weekly basis.
Of the 422 falls between October and December, six resulted in serious harm, compared with two of those reported between July and September.
There were 362 falls reported between April and June last year, 11 of which resulted in serious harm.
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