Our Insights
The deconditioning problem
Patients lose more than they expect while they wait
Older inpatients spend a median of 83% of measured hospital time lying in bed, with a median of 43 minutes a day standing or walking, and most of them are able to walk (Brown, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2009). Around one in three patients over 70 is discharged with a new disability in an activity of daily living (Covinsky, JAMA, 2011).
NHS England’s Model discharge pathway, published July 2026, now names deconditioning as a well-evidenced harm of staying in hospital longer than necessary, and asks that reviews from admission focus on preventing it.
We have published a clinical guide on this, written for ward and therapy teams rather than for buyers. It carries named, dated sources throughout, and it says plainly where the evidence stops and inference begins, including for our own products.
