Introduction of GaitSmart in the care pathway for the elderly to reduce falls and improve the quality of life of individuals

“行动能力和独立生活是老年人健康和幸福的关键。每三个65岁以上的人中就有一个人每年摔倒，对一些人来说，这会导致失去独立性，日常活动显著减少。相应的医疗和社会护理费用相当可观，仅跌倒造成的髋部骨折就花费了超过23亿GB。众所周知，与跌倒有关的关键风险因素包括步态和平衡问题，但在目前的护理路径中，没有使用客观的测量来识别和量化步态和平衡问题。这使得预防战略很难实施，干预方案通常是由跌倒引发的。这些程序应该是个性化的，目前这是在主观评估之后完成的。GaitSmart数据使用简单的红绿灯编码准确地识别问题所在和呈现的严重程度。这是一种快速而简单的测试，可以在全科医生手术中在10分钟内完成。这些数据可以启动个性化的锻炼计划，因此可以用来帮助预防跌倒。随后的测试量化了干预的有效性，并为个人提供了继续实施该方案的动力。对于那些受伤跌倒并变得虚弱的人，同样的程序也会被应用来帮助个人重新获得灵活性和独立性。我们的飞行员已经让这两种情况下的人参与进来。其中包括91岁以下的老人，其中一些人摔得很伤，许多人需要助行器。对于跌倒的人，GaitSmart引导干预计划导致了机动性、虚弱和对跌倒的恐惧的改善。对于那些步态不佳的人，这会使他们面临摔倒的风险，它改善了他们的灵活性，显着降低了他们对摔倒的恐惧。对于个人来说，这提高了他们的生活质量，而对于NHS来说，它降低了未来的医疗成本。这个项目将建立在之前小规模NELFT和关怀城市试点的数据基础上。社区医院的全科医生、老年医生、瀑布诊所经理和首席理疗师已经承诺为该项目提供支持，为他们护理的患者提供通道。各组之间的GaitSmart干预方案将是相似的。结果将公开提供，并与试验地点公布的数据和参考材料进行比较。“

"Mobility and independent living are key to an older person's health and wellbeing. One in 3 people over 65 fall each year and for some this results in a loss of independence and significant reduction in everyday activities. The corresponding health and social care costs are considerable with over £2.3B spent of hip fractures caused by falls alone.It is known that key risk factors relating to falls include gait and balance issues and yet in the current care pathway technology is not used to provide objective measurements to identify and quantify gait and balance issues. This makes prevention strategies very difficult to implement and intervention programmes are generally triggered by a fall. These programmes should be personalised and this is currently done after a subjective assessment.GaitSmart data identifies exactly where the problem lies and the severity presented using simple traffic light coding. It is a quick and simple test that can be performed in a GP surgery in 10 minutes. This data can initiate a personalised exercise plan and can therefore be used to help prevent falls. Subsequent tests quantify the effectiveness of the intervention and provides motivation to the individual to continue with the programme. For those who have suffered an injurious fall and become frail, the same procedure is applied to help the individual regain their mobility and independence.Our pilots have involved people in both situations. They have included people up to the age of 91, some of whom have suffered an injurious fall, and many requiring a walking aid. For fallers the GaitSmart guided intervention programme resulted in improvements in mobility, frailty and fear of falling. For those with a poor gait putting them at risk of falling it improved their mobility and significantly reduced their fear of falling. For the individuals this improves their quality of life, whilst for the NHS it reduces future healthcare costs.This project will build upon the data from previous small NELFT and Care City pilots. GPs, geriatricians, Falls Clinics managers and lead physiotherapists in the community hospital have already committed to supporting the project by providing access to patients under their care. The GaitSmart intervention protocol will be similar across the groups.The results will be publically available and compared to published data and reference material from the trial sites."