Hospitals encourage patients to Get up, Get dressed, Get moving!
This week (3 – 10 April) hospitals across Coventry and Warwickshire are taking part in a national awareness campaign to encourage patients to Get up, Get dressed and Get moving!
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire; South Warwickshire Foundation Trust and George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust are all supporting the initiative, which aims to speed-up patients’ recovery and reduce the length of time people need to spend in hospital.
While patients of all ages can benefit from being more active, it’s particularly important for older people. Sixty-five percent of patients admitted into hospital are 65 or older and it’s known that if a person over 80 spends ten days in a hospital bed they will lose ten percent of their muscle mass.
Nina Fraser, Chief Nursing Officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: “The aim is to raise awareness of the benefits of getting up, dressed and moving while you’re in hospital. We know that patients who do change into their day clothes and take some gentle exercise as soon as they are able to, feel much better both mentally and physically. It can also prevent further health complications that come from being bed-bound for too long.”
Family and friends of patients are also being asked to support by ensuring their relative or friend has a change of clothes.
Rose Gardiner, Associate Director of Operations at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, said: “There’s sometimes an assumption that when you’re in hospital you should be in your pyjamas or nightwear all the time but that’s just not the case. We’d love to see more patients up and in their day clothes, and this is where family and friends can be a great help as they can keep their loved one stimulated and engaged by providing a fresh change of clothing each day wherever possible.”
The Get up, Get dressed, Get moving initiative is part of a wider programme of activity that aims to continually progress patients’ treatment. All hospital staff, from administration and support workers to doctors and nurses all have their role to play in optimising patients’ time in hospital.
Michelle Norton, Director of Nursing at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, said: “We would like to see more patients have a greater involvement in developing their personalised treatment plan so they know what to expect of us and that we clearly understand what matters most to them. Patients can then work in close partnership with their clinical and therapy teams to actively progress their recovery every day they’re in hospital through keeping active and wearing day clothes, ultimately helping them to get back home as soon as possible.”
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