# Getting up With Lateral Thinking

## TL;DR

An affordable solution using air mattresses and bath lifts helps people get up after a fall, reducing reliance on ambulance services and improving confidence.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a low-cost, practical approach using everyday devices to address the problem of long lies after falls.

## Key findings

- Using an air mattress and bath lift helped two families avoid ambulance calls after falls.
- The solution improved confidence and reduced the risk of long lies following a fall.

## Abstract

Falls in the community can have major impacts on patient lives. There can be long lasting physical and psychological consequences of a fall and subsequent long lie. The annual burden to ambulance services responding to falls at home is high. Affordable devices to help people get up from the floor, or reduce the risk of a long lie, would be useful and widely applicable.

We present the case of 2 families who successfully used an air mattress and a bath lift to get the fallen person up off the floor following a fall, when they had previously called an ambulance. This has reduced their dependence on the ambulance service and has improved their confidence following falls.

Affordable devices such as air mattresses can help people off the floor following a fall and prevent long lies as well as reduce the number of ambulance call outs.