Don’t fall for Decaf

Care home residents have been offered decaffeinated hot drinks in a bit to reduce falls.

Stow Healthcare, based in Stowlangtoft, Care England, and University Hospital of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) have run the trial across eight care homes in East Anglia, over six months.

The simple switch to decaf drinks results in a 35% reduction in the number of falls for people on their way to the toilet.   The people behind the research say that if this was scaled across the care home sector, the results would mean thousands of falls prevented and the NHS, savings of up to £85 million per year.

Ruth French, director at Stow Healthcare said “The decaf project has been eye-opening for all of us.   To achieve a falls reduction of 35% connected to going to the loo is a significant finding for us all in the social care.   The impact of a serious fall can have devastating consequences, and finding simple ways such as decaf drinks that might reduce this risk is ground-breaking.   We hope it will inspire everyone in social care to take up the challenge”.

The trial following a similar initiative by UHL in 2021.   Noticing that many hospital patients were falling on the way to the toilet, continence nurse specialist Sarah Coombes suggested switching to decaffeinated drinks to reduce bladder and bowel urgency in those with an overactive bladder or incontinence.   Within three months, toilet-related falls in the hospital were down by 30%.   Falls are the most common cause of injury-related deaths in people over the age of 75.

People living in care homes are 3 times more likely to fall than those living at home; as they are generally more frail, less mobile, and have a high prevalence of incontinence than the general population.

Roughly 300 residents across Stow Healthcare’s 8 care homes were given the chance to blind taste-test caffeinated and decaffeinated drinks.   Over 90% of residents chose to take part in the trial after being told about the potential health benefits of making the switch, with the choice of caffeine still available on request.

Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive at Care England said “For such a simple, cost-neutral solution to have such a profound impact is extraordinary.   Simple solutions can help address enormous challenges”.