New app to help stop OAP falls

An exercise intervention app designed to help prevent falls in older people has proved popular following initial testing with residents in East Kilbride.

KOKU (Keep On Keep Up) isone of the exemplar projects being publicised on the West of Scotland (WoS) Innovation

Hub website which showcases local projects which are helping support some of the key health challenges facing residents across the West of Scotland.

Dr AnaTalbot, Clinical Fellow (Frailty and Falls) with WoS Innovation Hub, and a Consultant in Older Peoples at Monklands Hospital, is currently working on the app which could be developed for application and use throughout the West of Scotlanda nd further afield.

Dr Talbot said:“The KOKU app delivers an exercise programme, which can be personalised according to ability and mobility levels, and is designed to guard against deconditioning and the risk of falls associated with this.We held a recent focus group even tin East Kilbride and found that people were willing to engage and had access to the kinds of devices that apps such as this are delivered on.

“Around 20 representatives from different sheltered housing complexes attended where they were shown how to access and use KOKU.

“Most of them said they had access to digital devices and used apps already.

“What was positive from the feedback from this group was it seems that there is an appetite for further intervention in this form.”

The WoS Innovation Hub, which is hosted by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, is currently working on how the app, piloted by a team at the University of Manchester, could be applied wider across the West of Scotland.

Ana added: “We are actively exploring new funding opportunities as this would allow usto investigate possible future application .”