1. Working to Improve emergency care for older people who fall SAFER 1 Trial Newsletter SAFER 1 Newsletter - July 2010 The SAFER 1 trial is funded by the Department of Health and supported by the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research Clinical Research Centre Swansea, Warwick and Sheffield Universities are working with Ambulance Services, A&E departments and community based health services in England and Wales News update: SAFER 1 is up and running! The SAFER 1 trial aims to measure the costs and benefits of a Computerised Clinical Decision Support (CCDS) system for paramedics for use in the assessment and triage of older people who fall. Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) Since November 2009 we have recruited over 300 patients. Valuable learning can be provided by a series of measures, and your views are a vital part of these! Use of the CCDS has been extended until the end of October 2010. Swansea University researchers will continue to visit participating stations and ongoing clinical and operational support is being provided by Richard Hook from WAST. We welcome any feedback you can give us (see back for contact details). East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAS) Since the beginning of December 2009 we have recruited over 100 patients. Use of the CCDS has also been extended until the end of October 2010. Two new paramedics have joined the trial and are now fully trained. Larissa Prothero is our new Research Officer in the EEAS. She is an active paramedic, who continues to be part of the trial intervention group, when workloads allow. Larissa will be able to provide operational and clinical support (see back for contact details). Other trial sites Operational and technical challenges experienced mean we will not be including any other sites at this stage in the trial.

2. SAFER 1 Trial Newsletter Working to improving emergency care for older people who fall University Contacts Project Lead: Helen Snooks Tel No. 01792 513418 h.a.snooks@swansea.ac.uk Antonio Sánchez Trial Coordinator Tel No. 01792 295385 a.sanchez@swansea.ac.uk WAST Useful ContactsEEAS Useful Contacts General queries call: Larissa Prothero Research Officer and Paramedic Tel No. 07736374453 Technical Support/IT Tel No. 01603 424255 Thanks to everyone We’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in the trial so far. We are really keen to publish all findings, so if you would like to collaborate get in touch! Other News Our sister trial, SAFER 2 will soon be up and running. In this trial we are testing the referral process to a community based falls service (no IT!). If you would like to know more about SAFER 2, please contact Claire Evans: Tel No 01792 606685 ACTION: We need your Feedback! We are really keen to hear any issues you are having with the IT software – both positive and negative feedback is welcome. Please use the ‘University Contacts’ listed at the bottom of this page for your feedback. Additionally, please remember to log all technical problems with either your technical support or IT helpdesks. General queries call: Richard Hook Tel No. 07866367610 Technical problems call IT helpdesk Tel No. 0300 1000 010 Did You Know? Up to one in three (3.4m) over 65s suffer a fall each year, costing the NHS an estimated £4.6 million a day, adding up to 1.7 billion a year www.ageuk.org.uk/latest- news/archive/cost-of-falls/ www.ageuk.org.uk/latest- news/archive/cost-of-falls/ 27% of community-dwelling persons over age 65 years and 50% of those over 80 years of age will fall each year (Carpenter et al., 2009) www.hsc.wvu.edu/ICRC/pdf/2009Pu bs/CarpenterSAEM2009.PDF www.hsc.wvu.edu/ICRC/pdf/2009Pu bs/CarpenterSAEM2009.PDF Approximately 10% of UK ambulance service calls are to people over 65 who have fallen. About 60% of cases are taken to hospital (Halter et al., 2000) www.healthcare.ac.uk/research/doc uments/fit-to-be-left-report.pdf www.healthcare.ac.uk/research/doc uments/fit-to-be-left-report.pdf Approximately 25% of fallers restrict their usual activities because of injury or fear of falling again (McClure et al., 2010) www.biomedcentral.com/content/pd f/1471-2458-10-79.pdf www.biomedcentral.com/content/pd f/1471-2458-10-79.pdf Getting Involved: If you want to learn more about health research why not come to one of our seminars: CHIRALseminars@swansea.ac.uk.CHIRALseminars@swansea.ac.uk Forthcoming Events: The 999 EMS Research Forum conference is being held within the Emergency Services Show, Stoneleigh Park Coventry, 24 - 25 November 2010. For more information please contact Moira Morgan m.e.morgan@swansea.ac.uk m.e.morgan@swansea.ac.uk