New Nottinghamshire campaign launched to highlight benefits of recovering from illness at home

Being in familiar surroundings and with loved ones is the best thing for mental wellbeing, and rest and sleep is crucial to recovery, which is often hard to get in a hospital as they can be noisy and busy places.

Research has also shown that if elderly patients stay in a hospital bed for long periods of time, they can lose mobility and muscle strength, which makes it harder to regain independence once they do go home.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals’ chief nurse, Julie Hogg, said: “Hospitals are great places for people when they are really unwell and it is the best place for them, but once they start to get better it isn’t a great place to be.

"Hospitals can be really unfamiliar, it’s hard to move around and there are many interruptions, all of which can be detrimental to recovery. We want to see patients going home so that they can recuperate safely surrounded by their loved ones.

“We also need to make sure that we’ve space for our sickest patients so we need our patients that are ready to go home and their families to help us with that by being understanding about their discharge.

"Together we can make sure that we are able to treat everyone that needs treatment in a time where there is a lot of pressure on the NHS.”