Rosie Callow (left), Mark Young, and Rosie Butler (right) are part of the Falls Clinical Team at Noble's Hospital on the Isle of Man. Rosie Callow is a physiotherapist and falls prevention practitioner. Mark Young is a physiotherapist and frailty lead practitioner. Rosie Butler is an occupational therapist and falls prevention practitioner.
Our falls clinic takes a collaborative approach to falls prevention as an integral part of the Island’s holistic frailty strategy. As individual practitioners, and as a service, we are proud to be part of the close-knit healthcare community committed to improving the lives of older people on the Isle of Man. The service was established with the support of one of our excellent Consultant Geriatricians who shared “We can truly say our service has been set up with the patient’s health in mind. We aim to deliver care, which is on time, easily accessible and allows patients to see the professional most appropriate to their needs. This is the key to great economical healthcare. In developing our service together, the key to our successful multi-professional clinic is early access which is geographically close enough to diminish boundaries to care. We have access to ongoing training and straightforward escalation to medical intervention for those requiring it”.
Our team of Allied Health Professionals, including Advanced Practitioners, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists complete comprehensive assessments in clinic settings from different locations around the island enabling patients to access care that is closer to home. This multidisciplinary assessment enables us to explore the complex and often multifactorial nature of falls risk with our patients to offer recommendations relevant to our own specialities. We also have strong networks with key community stakeholders, consultant geriatricians, GPs and community nurses which enhances patient care, ongoing management and our own learning.
We are fortunate to receive positive feedback from healthcare professionals, community partners and patients accessing the service. As another consultant geriatrician shared: “Our small Island hospital has benefited massively from having a dedicated falls clinic who not only proactively seek patients from Emergency Department but also accept referrals from primary and secondary care. The small team of allied health professionals perform a holistic comprehensive review and a clear individualised plan for falls prevention for each patient seen within the service. I for one have found the new service to be very efficient with a short waiting time and a comprehensive letter sent to Primary Care and the referring physician to summarise the assessments and clear action plan.”
The clinic’s influence extends beyond the hospital, as highlighted by our community partner: “The creation of the Falls Clinic has made a huge difference to us in the Integrated Community Care / Wellbeing Partnership as it has enabled us to take a proactive and preventative approach to people in the community who have fallen. The falls clinic links ourselves and ambulance crews with people who fall but don’t need to be transported to hospital. With the clinic taking an open age approach, it has opened a more inclusive way of supporting people with a learning or physical disability in the community, for whom we previously struggled to get attention for.”
Looking ahead, we are excited about the ongoing expansion of the clinic, to ensure that more people can access comprehensive frailty care closer to home.
