Staff at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital have donned their pyjamas to work today whilst encouraging patients to get up, get dressed and keep moving.

Nurses, healthcare assistants and other staff at the Oswestry-based hospital wore their pyjamas to work to raise awareness of the #EndPJparalysis social media campaign.

The idea behind End PJ Paralysis is to support patients to get up, dressed and moving to prevent deconditioning, which is when patients quickly lose physical function and the ability to do everyday activities.

Research shows that for an older person, a loss of muscle strength and exercise tolerance can make the different between dependence and independence. Every 10 days of bed-rest in hospital is the equivalent of 10 years of muscle ageing for elderly patients.

It’s also been proven that getting patients out of bed and mobile when appropriate can reduce the length of time they spend in hospital.

The campaign started on Twitter by Professor Brian Dolan and has spread across the UK and internationally.

It is now backed by a number of notable NHS figures such as Professor Jane Cummings, chief nursing officer for NHS England.

Rachael Flood, Baschurch Day Unit manager, said: “Lots of staff on Baschurch Day Unit wore their pyjamas to work during their shift, which prompted conversations about End PJ Paralysis with our patients and raised the campaign’s profile.

“Once a patient returns to the unit after their operation, they get dressed straight away but our message was also to those patients destined for the inpatient wards, explaining how getting dressed and out of bed can help prevent loss of strength and reduced mobility.

“This campaign is very important and I’m proud that we are able to work with our patients and support them in being independent when they return home.”

Bev Tabernacle, director of nursing and deputy chief executive, said: “We wanted to highlight the campaign and our involvement in a fun and eye-catching way.

“This initiative also gives us the opportunity to showcase some of the fantastic work we do around enhanced recovery.

“We discharge many of our patients following replacement surgery on day one following their surgery and have also reviewed many of our pathways to ensure we get the best outcomes for our patients.”