ANYONE who has been a hospital patient quickly realises how easy it is to become simply a patient – a part of daily hospital life.

For some, especially elderly people, in hospital long-term, there’s a genuine danger of being institutionalised and even losing the desire to re-establish independent living.

All of which is why a new initiative to get patients wearing their own clothes on the ward makes good sense. After treatment, staff simply want their charges to make a speedy recovery and this can be helped by “getting back to normal” and resuming being ourselves again.

It’s very easy to lose confidence in going home after our needs are cared for so fully in hospital and also difficult to summon the strength and interest to get going again.

When bed-blocking is prevalent in the NHS, getting patients back home is vital. Looking and feeling “normal” starts with our own clothes.