Nursing students swapped their uniforms for pyjamas as they found out about life as a patient.

As part of the national NHS Change Day call to action, second-year nursing students at the University of York have been running the clinical simulation unit in the department of health sciences as a ward for the day.

Students played the roles of patients, relatives and carers, as well as medical staff.

The unit includes two four-bedded bays, a nurses’ station, an intensive care suite, a clean preparation area, sluice and community bedroom.

The aim of the day was to experience what it is like to be a patient first hand and to find ways of improving care for patients.

Department of health sciences staff provided scenarios based on their real-life experiences in practice and joined in the role playing.

About 30 staff and students took part in the event, in advance of yesterday’s national NHS Change Day. The day is designed to show how one simple idea can lead to a new way of thinking to transform patient care.

The York event was the brainchild of student nurse Louise Towse and was organised by the university’s student nursing society, NurSoc.