SAFE Research Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation to explore the feasibility of thermal imaging technology to prevent frail, elderly, and vulnerable patients in hospitals wards from suffering preventable, in-patient fall events causing moderate to severe damage.
IRAS ID
234351
Contact name
Margaret Cooper
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN24617143
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Rinicare Ltd, a Lancaster-based SME, and University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT) will collaborate on a research study to determine the feasibility, suitability, and acceptability of the Rinicare developed SAFE (System to Avoid Fall Events) fall prevention and detection system in a hospital environment. The study is designed to determine if the implementation of the SAFE system will help clinicians to prevent in-patient falls from hospital beds. In-patient falls are a serious problem with more than 245,000 incidents reported in 2015-2016. 77% of these falls involved a patient over the age of 65. The injuries suffered by patients due to falls are estimated by NICE to cost the NHS £2.3B annually. This research study will test the performance of the SAFE technologies against the current interventions to prevent falls.
The SAFE study is designed as a comparison study combining a descriptive, quantitative methodology measuring the number of fall events with a normative analysis of the qualitative aspects experienced by the clinicians using the SAFE system during the project period.
The primary research objective of this study is to determine if the implementation of the SAFE system will quantifiably reduce the number of fall events in the ward compared to a similar control period.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0141
Date of REC Opinion
24 May 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion