LEGENDARY NIGHTCLUB LIQUID SET TO CLOSE
IT’S WEAR-PYJAMAS-TO-WORK WEEK ON THE WARDS AT HILLINGDON TO MAKE A SERIOUS POINT
STAFF at Hillingdon Hospital will be wearing their pyjamas to work for a week in order to highlight the issue of “pyjama paralysis”.
The campaign is the largest ever effort by the NHS to get elderly patients dressed into their own clothes and moving around in order to boost their recovery.
All this week until Friday staff, including the hospital’s executive team, will be donning their pyjamas in recognition of the 70-day #EndPJparalysis Challenge.
The challenge aims to “save” one million hospital days for patients over 70, by getting them home earlier and back to their old routines.
The week-long pyjama party aims to stress to both patients and staff the value of patients being up and about and dressed in their normal clothes.
The campaign is backed up by research showing that elderly hospital patients lose muscle mass and their mobility the longer they spend in bedwear or hospital gowns.
Sticking in PJs can also cause elderly patients to lose confidence, having a detrimental impact on their independence.
Staff will be joined by Professor Brian Dolan from the Oxford Institute of Nursing, who was the originator of the campaign and a leading expert in innovation and culture change in healthcare.
Professor Dolan said: “Patients wearing their own clothes in hospital further enhances their dignity, safety and retains their sense of identity and when something works well for patients it works for staff too.
“Encouraging patients to get dressed every day rather than remaining in their pyjamas or hospital gown when they do not need to boosts recovery and makes the most of precious time so it can be better spent with loved ones.”