Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) shows slipping and tripping to be the single most common cause of major injury in UK workplaces. With this in mind, clinical staff in Lancashire are trialling some new footwear to keep them safe at work.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Research and Development (R&D) Department have been giving out clinical shoes to staff in order to promote a trial of high grip footwear with the aim of reducing staff slips during work.

The Research and Development Department are distributing 1000 pairs of shoes to staff working on their feet in a clinical setting, for a minimum of 30 hours a week. Taking part involves replying to one text message a week for 18 weeks, which will ask staff how many slips they have had. Half of the staff involved will be randomly allocated to a control group who wear their own shoes whilst the other half will trial the shoes with high grip.

Katie Glickman, Research Operations Manager at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:
“It is not often that we get to give something back to our hardworking NHS staff, so we are delighted to be able to visit our services in action and demonstrate that not only is service user health and wellbeing important, but also that of our workforce.
“The Trust has invested in supporting a varied portfolio of research for our service users but more recently we have been able to extend these opportunities to our staff also. We are keen to demonstrate that the Trust prioritises healthcare that moves us forward and welcome the enthusiasm and support of staff in moving healthcare forward.”
As an incentive and thank you for taking part all staff recruited will receive a pair of shoes to keep by the end of the study regardless of which group they are randomised to.

If you are interested in hearing more about the portfolio of research at the Trust, for both staff and service users, please call the R&D Department on 01772 773498 or email us on research@lancashirecare.nhs.uk.