Liverpool doctors wearing PJs as part of campaign to improve patient experience
They're appealing for donations of clothes and toiletries
Last updated 13th Dec 2023
Many doctors across Liverpool have swapped their uniforms for pyjamas today (13 December) as part of a campaign to dismantle the barriers created by wearing hospital gowns.
Donate2Motivate was launched by doctors Chloe Ward and Gabrielle Titley-Wilson to improve the patient experience and motivate patients out of bed - it was inspired after an elderly man with Parkinson's, who had been on ward for two weeks, told staff he wouldn't get up and about because he was embarrassed being in the hospital gown and he didn't have any friends or family locally to bring anything in for him.
After a member of staff then bought him some pyjamas, a dressing grown and a grooming kit - he got up with the physios and he was discharged four days later.
They're appealing for donations of clothes and toiletries so more patients can be helped to feel more comfortable and reclaim their strength and dignity.
Chloe said:
"The more we got talking to people and staff and the wider community, lots of patients in the hospital were facing similar problems and it's all about empowering these patients and treating them as humans again and not just patients.
"You know what it feels like when you're in your pyjamas all weekend - you feel slow, you feel lethargic - so we want people to feel good again and be in proper clothes.
"Having the time to talk to them and find out their worries and concerns, exactly what we did with the first patient, we really did find out their concerns are the same as ours - being in bed all that time.
"It's all about getting the community together within the hospital, getting clothing donations from staff which we can sort out, wash appropriately and then redistribute onto the hospitals to the patients that need them the most.
"We want to try and reach every patient who needs us"
"The future plans for Donate2Motivate is to try and get this into every hospital. We want to try and reach every patient who needs us.
"Also, we said that if it's going to be any city to start this, it would be Liverpool.
"We're trying to link in with the rest of our emergency services to really try and reach as many people who need us."
Gabrielle said:
"The whole point is to try and explain to staff and make staff feel what it feels like to be a patient in your pyjamas and feel that vulnerable feeling and try and raise some awareness of the effects of deconditioning where patients are in bed for prolonged periods of time."
This was the second Donate2Motivate Pyjama Day, with the first in the summer raising around £1200.