Active Ageing aims to help people maintain their independence through keeping active in later life. Along with the health benefits of becoming more active, our participants enjoy getting out of the house and meeting like-minded people.
We work closely with NHS professionals, Primary Care Networks, Adult Social Care and other local organisations as part of a wider offer and support network for residents across the Wigan borough. We are a part of the local Falls Strategy and Pathway.
Our team of qualified and experienced instructors support participants to improve their wellbeing, mobility, strength and balance with a flexible programme that can be adapted to meet their aspirations and interests.
Activities are held in a variety of settings across the borough to meet demand and to focus on areas of most need. Home exercise is also provided for people unable to attend sessions in the community.
This could be a result of their health conditions, confidence, or access to transport. This helps us to focus support with people in lower socio-economic groups where these barriers maybe more prevalent. We are currently exploring integrated support with re-ablement which will further strengthen our aim to reduce health inequalities and support hospital discharge.
In Wigan, hospital admissions of the over 65s due to a fall are amongst the highest in Greater Manchester, while GM is above the England average.
Deaths following a falling is also on the rise. The proportion of over 75s in Wigan is high compared to other areas of Greater Manchester and projections show that this population is rapidly increasing.
Be Well (Wigan Council) is committed to taking a life course approach to reducing the risk of falls by providing a range of opportunities to help people improve their balance, increase muscle strength and promote bone health.
During the sessions we work with participants, so they know how to get off the floor safely if they fall, put strategies in place to support them getting up and advice on what to do if they are unable to do so.
This is practiced in sessions and techniques demonstrated to support this. We have had many examples over the years of where this has been successful, and participants have been able to help themselves. Before accessing our activities, they needed to call for help, sometimes from emergency services or where they have had a long lie increasing the risk of complications.
Recently, we have started to explore how we can help our residents who do not access our services to Age Well by increasing awareness about the importance of strength and balance, as well providing resources to help people move more, including the Super 6 Exercises, Winter Wise booklet and home exercise videos.
For Falls Awareness Week in 2022 we took this further, and the team produced a film to demonstrate what to do if you fall following the advice we provide in our sessions.
This was made available on our website and shared with partner organisations.
In December 2022, ahead of the paramedic strikes, when this message was more important than ever, we re-released the film on Wigan Council’s social media channels.
We were aware that it may not be seen by our target audience, but the aim was to provide friends and family with the information to help their loved ones.
Analytics from Facebook showed that the post reached 6,528 people, the content was displayed 6,528 times, engaged with by 357 people and shared 28 times.
We also shared the video with our partners, so it was available to people that they support.
A Strength and Balance participant at Howe Bridge Leisure Centre explained that her husband had fallen at home over Christmas. She assisted her husband following the backward chaining process to get back up. Their granddaughter was there who is a nurse, and she couldn’t believe that he managed to get up using backward chaining steps as shown the group session.
Another Strength and Balance participant, this time at St Anne’s Church, Shevington said he was out for a meal with his wife when. He found another gent had fallen in the toilets. Using the backward chaining process that he has learnt in the group sessions he managed to help the stricken gentleman to get back up to standing (with support from another member of the public). Without knowing these steps this gentleman would’ve required an ambulance callout to get him back on his feet.
Every time we help our residents to stay balanced, avoid an injurious fall or get back on their feet without support we reduce costs in the wider system.
Figures from the Falls Tool correct as of 2016 show that:
Resource – Unit Cost
GP visit – £36.00
A&E visit – admission – £100.53
A&E visit – no admission – £90.29
Ambulance call-out to hospital – £236
Non-hip fracture – hospital inpatient stay – £7,949
Hip fracture – hospital inpatient stay – £8,955
Hip fracture – 1st year follow-up costs – £527
Hip fracture – 2nd year costs – £2,212
Geriatric long-stay – £14,659
We would like to spread the word further and welcome you sharing this film with your own residents:
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