Care workers reduce residents' sleep deprivation by wearing pyjamas

Care workers at a home in Cheshire have trialled wearing pyjama-style scrubs at night-time and have found it has hugely reduced sleep deprivation, as well as pacing and disorientation for residents living with dementia.

Many residents at Simonsfield Care Home in Runcorn find it hard to differentiate between day and night and as a result have problems sleeping.

Both the day and the night teams wear identical blue scrubs.

In a bid to help residents tell the difference, care workers on the night-time shifts have been wearing pyjama-style scrubs.

Due to infection control guidelines, staff cannot wear pyjamas, so home manager Debbie Smith came up with the idea of cartoon patterned scrubs for night staff.

She said: “We thought we’d try out scrubs that mimic pyjamas for the night carers to help minimise sleep deprivation, pacing and disorientation for our residents living with dementia.

“The initiative met with a really good response from most of the residents and we’ve seen a drastic improvement in their sleep patterns, so the switch has been made permanent.”

She added: “It is remarkable how a simple change in uniform can have such drastic impact on the lives of those living with dementia.”

Disorientation and pacing was a regular occurrence during night time hours at the care home, leading to sleep deprivation and associated lack of energy, irritability and mood swings.

The care home currently has a 9.7 rating on carehome.co.uk with a daughter of a mum at the home saying “Wonderful caring environment, that we feel confident how well mum is looked after. We liked how we, as a family could decorate her room with her furniture, pictures, photos and everything that made it a home from home. The staff are just brilliant with my mum and as a family, we have no worries with my mum living at Simonsfield.”

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