Publish date: 4 February 2026
A rehabilitation ward at West London NHS Trust’s Clayponds Hospital has reduced patient falls by nearly 75% after redesigning everyday care processes using a structured quality improvement approach.
Falls, long considered inevitable in rehabilitation settings where patients are encouraged to move around and regain their independence, are often one of the most frequently reported incidents in the NHS. A team of staff analysed incident reports to identify repeat risk patterns, including toilet or bathroom use. Rather than restricting patient mobility, staff focused on reducing avoidable risk.
Interventions included a safety checklist for toilet use, and use of falls-prevention equipment (always including non-slip socks and HoverJack®), twice-daily staff-to-patient ratio reviews and strengthened five-step risk assessments. Changes were introduced incrementally and tested before making it a standard procedure, by the teams supporting patients on a daily basis.
The ward originally set a 10% reduction target by April 2025. Instead, average monthly falls fell from around four to two, removing falls from the ward’s top incident category. The reduction has led to fewer patient injuries, lower follow-up care demand, reduced staff stress, and measurable cost avoidance, while patients report feeling safer without loss of independence.
Christine Wendam, Service Manager at Clayponds Hospital said: “Our priority is to have patients supported to recover as quickly as possible and nothing gets in the way of this.”
The project has been selected for presentation at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Oslo, which highlights its milestone for rehabilitation services nationally.