Promoting Increased Physical Activity in Hospitalised Older Adults

Participants will be assessed by the therapy team who will prescribe tailored activity and then liaise with the mobility volunteers, who will deliver the intervention. Participants who can mobilise independently will be encouraged to perform walking exercises, progressing their walking distance over set markers in the hospital (e.g., to the end of the bed and back; to the doorway and back; to the toilet and back). Participants who require assistance in mobility will perform bed (e.g., hip abduction, static quads), or chair exercises (e.g., ankle pumps, knee extension, arm raise), and will be progressed to performing walking exercises when their physical function improves. Volunteers will check with nursing staff that participants are safe to exercise before each activity session. Participants will receive the mobility sessions twice daily, starting upon recruitment and continuing until the day of discharge from hospital.