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) is one 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 Ana Talbot, Clinical Fellow (Frailty and Falls) with WoS Innovation Hub, and a Consultant in Older Peoples Services at University Hospital Monklands, is currently working on the app which could be developed for application and use throughout the West of Scotland and 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 event in 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 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: “While most who attended the group already exercised, those who didn’t felt an app like this would help them to do so.  This seems encouraging but we still need to do more investigation on to how we make sure as many people as possible are able to benefit from apps such as KOKU.

“We are actively exploring new funding opportunities as this would allow us to investigate possible future application.”

More information of the Keep Up Keep On app is available at https://kokuhealth.com/