COLCHESTER Hospital is to begin using a new scheme to help older patients recover more quickly from treatment by getting them up and moving after procedures.

Research has suggested a ten-day hospital stay can cause ten years’ worth of muscle ageing with older patients spending up to 83 per cent of their time in bed and often a further 12 per cent in a chair.

It means a new programme called active re-enablement has been implemented to help ward staff support patients to be as independent as possible during their stay in hospital with the hope patients’ stays will be shortened before they then receive further care at home.

The transformation lead at the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust Josh Poole said the new scheme could also take pressure of the social care system.

He said: “The association between immobility and adverse consequences is well established, yet older people as inpatients spend significant amounts of time in bed.

“We aim to change this and help them regain their independence while on the ward to aid their recovery and reduce the need for ongoing care once they leave hospital.”