NHS could save ‘more than £2bn a year’ as green spaces help to tackle health conditions

“The fresh air will do you good,” is something we have all heard countless times.

And an NHS scheme has been proving that the phrase has real value. £2.1bn, in fact.

NHS Forest is all about transforming green spaces at hospital and GP sites into therapy gardens to encourage patients to engage with nature.

Recovering from a brain injury at Homerton Hospital in Hackney, former gardener Ben appreciates the green space provided here by the initiative.

“Yeah, it’s good,” he says.

“It’s an opportunity to be social with other people and have conversations. Conversations that aren’t just about, you know, how your rehab is going and when it’s breakfast and that sort of thing.”

Maria Copley has spent around four months at Homerton receiving rehab for a serious brain injury.

Her husband Frank says access to the outdoor space has been a great help.

“Maria has always loved being outdoors,” he says.

“And I think it’s really important to have these spaces at the hospital. Especially during the summer, we really enjoyed being out in the gardens.

“It’s a little bit chilly now, but it’s been an absolute godsend to get out of the ward space and into a nice environment with a bit of greenery.”

‘Very calming’

The initiative started 15 years ago, and has helped to plant more than 130,000 trees and create over 400 green spaces, from flower beds to vegetable plots, and orchards to allotments.

It is delivered through people like Emma Myers, an occupational therapist who also has years of gardening experience gathered by working at places like the Eden Project and Kew Gardens.

She believes the scheme is hugely beneficial not just to patients, but NHS staff too.

“We need to think about preventative well-being,” she says.

“So the sessions that I do with the staff are about enabling them to take a break away from the stresses of their jobs, to come out to a natural environment, to enjoy being in a different space, doing something very calming.

“And then they’ve got capacity to go back and give their best to our patients.”

Those invested in the scheme say it can help a multitude of health conditions, and that better access to green spaces for everyone could save millions by helping to tackle stress, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; as well as improving mood and self-esteem and aiding cognitive development.

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Liz Reece, from the NHS’s Centre for Sustainable Health Care, says: “It’s estimated that the NHS could save £2.1bn pounds every year if everybody in the country had access to good quality green space.

“And to me the fundamental place to start with that is the green space that is owned by the NHS.”