Free new falls prevention toolkit reduced falls by 69% in pilot

You’re sat in a customer’s lounge, and you say, “I’m here to talk about fall prevention”. Some customers are going to roll their eyes and ask if you’re going to make them throw out all their rugs and mats. Getting away from this one-size-fits-all stereotype is where fall prevention and vulnerability are so alike. Both require housing staff to identify individual customers’ needs and have appropriate resources available to support them.

Trent & Dove customers reported 69% fewer falls after participating in a new innovative falls assessment. Two years ago, in partnership with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), Trent & Dove created a home safety project for older and vulnerable customers. Now, the data is clear: visiting customers and guiding them through an evidence-based framework helps them avoid falls.

This home safety project has become a powerful tool for reducing harm, boosting satisfaction, and identifying vulnerability. 91% of participants say they feel safer at home, and many benefit from additional support, which often improves independence and customer satisfaction.

When older people fall, they’re more likely to suffer serious injuries that can impact their housing. Most falls can be avoided by assessing and addressing hazards in the home environment, which makes them more likely considering the habits and vulnerability of people living there.

During the assessment, housing professionals identify fall risks and source support from tenancy sustainment, the adaptations team, or external partners.

Visiting customers at home enables an informed falls risk assessment based on the home environment and individual vulnerabilities. It’s more effective at reducing the risk of falls because it produces palatable, relevant advice that gives an appropriate level of risk reduction. Blanket, one-size-fits-all advice just doesn’t produce the same results.

An external perspective is great for highlighting safety compromises and risky behaviour, but lasting change is a personal choice. Often, the most important outcome of the visit is the customer understands the logic behind the advice. Not all customers implement the change there and then, but a subsequent trip might jolt them into action based on your advice.

You have the opportunity to speak with customers about adjustments beyond fall prevention, including additional vulnerabilities they want to tell the landlord. Considering the Housing Ombudsman’s expectation of housing associations to respond to customers’ vulnerabilities, it’s important to find diverse ways to engage and communicate with our customers. We know this is particularly important for customers in long leases, general needs housing, or where a customer has minimal landlord contact during the year.

Helping customers feel seen and understood creates a foundation on which the trickier conversations can take place. Although home visits begin with fall prevention, there’s scope to identify and address a variety of other hazards in the home or risky lifestyle choices that can become apparent during the visit.

Health and Safety Adviser Lauren Knight conducts the visits at Trent & Dove. She says:

“Implementing the fall prevention toolkit has been a great way to connect with our customers. All the visits conducted have been well received and positive. We have been able to provide advice to tenants about potential risks both inside the home and those that they carry with them as a person. The visits also provide a further opportunity to look at any changes in tenant need or property condition which we can advise on or address in house if necessary.”

Housing associations are well-placed to help older customers by visiting to conduct an assessment, providing bespoke safety advice, signposting community health services, or facilitating necessary adaptations.

Find out more about the free fall prevention toolkit based on Trent & Dove’s pilot project.

Co-authored by 

Jules Robinson
Falls Engagement Lead at RoSPA