28 Sep Staff in pyjamas launch campaign at Colchester General Hospital
Staff at Colchester General Hospital wore their pyjamas to help launch an initiative to accelerate the recovery of patients in the hospital.
They were showing their support for a campaign that started in New Zealand and which is rapidly spreading throughout hospitals in the UK to encourage patients, where possible, to stop wearing their nightwear, such as pyjamas or hospital gowns, when they do not need to but to get out of bed and put on their normal daytime clothes.
Patients who are able to get up, get dressed and get moving are likely to recover more quickly than patients who remain in bed, and therefore leave the hospital sooner.
Staff at Colchester General Hospital, such as nursing staff, including Melissa Dowdeswell, Deputy Director of Nursing, and medical, therapy and administrative staff, wore pyjamas in order to promote the #EndPJparalysis campaign to colleagues and patients.
For every 10 days of bed-rest in hospital, the equivalent of 10 years of muscle ageing occurs in people over 80-years old, and building this muscle strength back up takes twice as long as it does to deteriorate.
One week of bed rest equates to 10% loss in strength, and for an older person who is at threshold strength for climbing stairs at home, getting out of bed or even standing up from the toilet, a 10% loss of strength make the difference between dependence and independence
