GLASGOW researchers have found older patients are LESS safe in bed during hospital stays.

The team from Glasgow Caledonian University has revealed that just 25 minutes of slow walking in hospital can help improve physical function and cut readmissions.

And they are insisting their findings should be a “red flag” for change.

World-leading experts, including Glasgow Caledonian University Professor of health behaviour dynamics Sebastien Chastin and Professor Borja del Pozo Cruz, from the University of Cádiz in Spain, say the study findings are a “robust sign, backed up by science” that mobility within hospitals is essential.

Professor del Pozo Cruz said: “It should be a red flag in hospital care settings to say we have to do something to fix this.

“Getting people out of bed is more beneficial. Hospitals put people in bed because they think it’s the safest place but our research shows that it’s not.”

The research team of scientists, from Glasgow, Bristol, Spain, Norway, Belgium and Australia, have published their findings in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers say most older people are very sedentary in hospital, often spending 95% of the day in bed or sitting. They can lose physical function very rapidly in a matter of days, leading to more health problems and re-hospitalisation after being discharged.

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Professor Chastin explained: “The research findings are relevant to every hospital around world. There is nothing we can do about the fact that, as we grow older, at some point we are going to have some health problems and end up in hospital for a period of time.

“But hospitals are organised in such a way that often, for multiple reasons, people are immobilised and asked to stay in bed, and are not encouraged to be active.”

He added: “Even just walking around creates problems in the structure of the hospital, but all that time you are spending immobilised means that you are becoming less fit and deconditioned very quickly.

“Research has been carried out in space and in multiple settings that show within 24 hours, you lose a vast amount of your muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness. The likelihood is that you will get better from the specific condition you were hospitalised for, but while you were there, you were actually making your body worse for many other reasons.

“We are sympathetic to the clinical staff that are overburdened everywhere it’s actually beneficial to everyone in the long run.”

Professors del Pozo Cruz and Chastin said there was a growing grassroots movement, called #endpajamaparalysis, of frontline healthcare staff around the world who want to see this happen to make their lives easier but it is not supported by the system.