New volunteering programme helps older people to stay safe following their hospital discharge

8th September 2021

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The “Falls prevention - Community Exercise Volunteers” programme, which is run by the volunteering service at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and supported by Helpforce charity, will bring trained volunteers into the homes of patients to provide one-to-one support with the aim of improving their strength, balance and mobility.

The new volunteering programme, funded by Helpforce and Kingston Hospital Charity, aims to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals as well as reducing the strain on the NHS caused by falls among older patients. People who take part in exercises focused on improving strength and balance can reduce their risk of falls by as much as 54 per cent.

The new volunteering programme has been praised by Trust and community physiotherapists as it will help to ensure patients receive the right support at home and reduce the risk of being readmitted due to falls.

Falls are a serious problem for patients aged over 65, especially after they are discharged from hospital. An estimated 40 per cent of older adults fall within six months of discharge, with 50 per cent of these incidents resulting in injury. Falls in over people aged over 65 that result in hospital admissions cost the NHS approximately £3.5 million per year. This cost is greater when there is an involvement of ambulance services, community services supporting reconditioning, and Accident and Emergency attendance.

Volunteers will visit patients at their home once a week for eight weeks and help them with a range of targeted exercises. Those giving their time will help patients to stay mobile and active, providing information about local physical activities that meet the patient’s needs. This type of intervention also aims to reduce a patient’s fear of falling and provide information about local physical activities that meet the patients’ needs so that they can continue to improve after the initial eight weeks. Additionally for the first four weeks volunteers will have one phone call with patients to encourage engagement with the exercises and support their general wellbeing.

Bianca Larch, Community Outreach Manager at the Trust, said:

“We are delighted to launch this much needed volunteering service to support our patients at home.

“With volunteers supporting patients to undertake a physiotherapy prescribed exercise programme, we hope to see improved strength, mobility and balance in our patients and in turn reduce their risk of falls significantly. This programme can really improve the quality of life of our patients by restoring wellbeing and independence, especially for those waiting to access various community interventions.”

Nic Kane, Chief Nurse for Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I am delighted to support this piece of work, which is a fantastic example of collaborative working between community trusts, acute hospitals and the voluntary sector. Thank you to everyone involved in this project, which will make a real difference to patients.”

Maeve Hully, Director of Volunteering at Helpforce, added: “We’re pleased to be partnering with Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to deliver this programme.

“We believe that this programme will show how well managed volunteers in intelligently designed roles can provide great support to patients, staff and the system. We aim to support the volunteering team with our expertise in project management, as well as sharing with them our knowledge of best practice in running similar programmes, and finally, supporting the team in evaluating the project so that in the end, they will have the evidence which can demonstrate the difference that the intervention makes to patients.”

Bianca added: “We are very grateful to have Helpforce’s support on this project. Thanks to their knowledge, experience and the desire to maximise the impact of volunteering, we have been able to set up the foundation to ensure the project is run safely with the support of staff.

“By the end of the project in June 2022, we hope to see encouraging results that will enable us to scale this project across the Trust (extending to more wards and outpatients), positively impacting more patients.”

ENDs.

Media contact:

Vy Tran, Communications and Content Manager: vt@helpforce.community

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