FROM nurses in nighties to doctors doing the rounds in their slippers, hospital staff in Bolton donned an unusual uniform this week.

It may have looked like a one big slumber party at Royal Bolton Hospital on Wednesday but the very casual attire was being used to highlight a new movement helping to keep patients mobile.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust has launched its Think Home First campaign aimed at improving recovery and discharge rates.

Part of the campaign is focussed on the effects of prolonged bed rest for patients in their older years, known as Pyjama Paralysis.

The #endPJparalysis movement aims is to get patients up, dressed and active wherever possible, to aid their recovery and get them home and back to independence as soon as possible.

Staff at the trust donned their own pyjamas to get an understanding of how vulnerable a patient would feel being in their nightwear.

Trish Armstrong-Child, director of nursing and midwifery said: “Staff will feel vulnerable putting their PJs on.

“However, when they do so it will remind them that there are people in our care that are feeling much more vulnerable than them that day, just by simply being a patient in an environment they often feel they have no control over.”

The PJ paralysis movement was founded by Professor Brian Dolan and has revealed how bed rest can seriously damage the health and independence of the older generation.

For example, 10 days of bed rest for a person aged 80 and over ages their muscles by 10 years and hospitalised older people are 61 times more likely to later develop a disability by doing a regular activity, such as washing or cooking, than those who stay out of hospital

Other aims of the Think Home First campaign will see staff working with friends and relatives of patients to aid their recovery and get them home as soon as possible.

This includes providing them with comfortable daywear as well as nightwear, encouraging them to sit up out of bed if possible, helping them move around the ward, and providing books and newspapers to keep them mentally active.

The Bolton launch event was attended by Professor Dolan and the Mayor of Bolton Cllr Roger Hayes and staff shared their pledges to help end PJ paralysis.

Campaign lead and trust programme manager Jo Bolger added: “We’re really pleased with the progress of the Think Home First campaign, and are excited to launch it officially with our guests today.

“Our staff have really embraced the concept and its benefits, and the pledges we have received have made us confident it will be a huge success.

“Thanks to everyone who has taken part so far.”