For the past 12 months, Ryde Hospital has been running the #endPJparalysis campaign in a bid to reduce the risk of patients deconditioning while in hospital.

To celebrate the one year mark, staff were called on to wear their pyjamas to work to create discussion and raise awareness of the campaign.

The initiative is seeing impressive results, having helped patients on over 4400 occasions on the acute wards and more than 7000 occasions on the rehabilitation wards at Ryde to get up, dressed and moving over the last year.

Director of Nursing and Midwifery Drew Hilditch-Roberts said the initiative is all about empowering patients.

“We want our patients to feel less vulnerable by being in their normal clothes rather than a hospital gown or pyjamas,” he said.

“We want to get them up, dressed and moving so we can get them home faster and safely back to their loved ones where they belong.”

The feedback from patients has been overwhelmingly positive with the majority of those surveyed about the initiative saying they prefer to wear their own clothes over hospital gowns or pyjamas, and getting dressed improved their mood, their motivation to mobilise and their ability to look after themselves.

#EndPJparalysis is part of a global movement and Ryde is one of several hospitals undertaking the initiative in NSW.