NHS Forest newsletter - December 2021
@NHSForest @SusHealthcare
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With temperatures plummeting, tree planting has begun! Our first trees of the season went into the ground at the end of November, and this winter looks to be our busiest ever – with more than 12,000 NHS Forest saplings due to be planted on or near healthcare sites across England, Scotland and Wales.
You can play a part in growing the forest too. If you're looking for a unique Christmas gift, or would just like to give something back to the NHS and its staff, you can sponsor an NHS Forest tree and receive a free Christmas card to download. There are lots of reasons to plant trees, but planting one on or near a healthcare site is particularly special. Benefits include:
- Creating tranquil areas for NHS staff to rest and recharge;
- Improving patient recovery time, and reduce the need for painkillers;
- Increasing biodiversity and providing urban green space, where community members can enjoy being in nature.
Read on for updates on our NHS Forest conference and award winners, an insight into the life of a Nature Recovery Ranger, a roundup of COP26 and updates from across our network.
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The tree planting season begins!
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The first NHS Forest trees of the season have now gone into the ground, coinciding with National Tree Week. Fourteen NHS Forest sites planted a total of 1,239 saplings over the course of the week. The sites were hugely varied, ranging from a community woodland adjacent to a GP surgery in northern Scotland and an orchard at a social care unit in Southampton; to planting 270 trees to support a horticultural therapy programme at an adult inpatient unit in Grimsby. Read more here.
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Fern Garden opens at Mount Vernon
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Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, northwest London opened its Fern Garden on 23 November, supported by the NHS Forest. The secluded garden is a restorative space for patients, staff and visitors, during what can be a particularly challenging time. The garden includes a wooden shelter, custom-designed by a local carpenter, which it is hoped will enable outdoor chemotherapy treatment in future. Read more about the garden, the shelter and the event here. |
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A Tiny Forest takes root at Oxford hospital
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The NHS Forest gained a ‘Tiny Forest’ this month, established at Littlemore Mental Health Centre in Oxford with our partners at Earthwatch Europe. Healthcare staff, patients and apprentices helped plant 600 native trees, which are expected to attract hundreds of new animals and plants to the hospital grounds in the years ahead. Tiny Forests are small, dense, fast-growing woodlands, and the trees at Littlemore were all planted on an area the size of a tennis court! Learn more here.
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COP26 in Glasgow brought world leaders together last month to address climate change. The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) was well-placed to represent the health community as an official observer at the negotiations, and demand urgent, ambitious and concrete action from our world leaders to tackle climate change as a global public health threat. Read CSH's COP26 recap.
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At COP26, the focus of talks on nature-based solutions, such as tree planting, was on understanding their environmental impacts. At CSH, we are calling for these discussions to consider the impacts on population health, as the greening of neighbourhoods, particularly in urban areas, brings immense preventative healthcare benefits. Read our thoughts on nature-based solutions here.
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NHS Forest Conference and Awards
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This year's NHS Forest conference was held online in October. Featuring Black Environment Network's Judy Ling Wong, Dr Becca Lovell from the University of Exeter, and Ecotherapist and Psychologist Suzanne Tarrant, it was an inspiring afternoon of discussions on green space and health, and how to improve access to nature for all. Read more and watch a recording here. |
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We were delighted to announce the winners of this year's NHS Forest Awards at the conference. There were awards for the pioneering use of green space by healthcare professionals; engaging people with nature; creating an innovative green space; nature recovery; and the most trees planted for the NHS Forest in 2020-21. Read more about the five award-winning projects here. |
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Meet our Nature Recovery Rangers
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In October we launched our new Nature Recovery Rangers film, in which our three rangers take you around their hospital sites in Liverpool, Bristol and London. They talk about their day to day work, and its impacts on patients, staff and the community. Watch the film to learn about how they recover nature for people, and recover people with nature. |
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Course: Green Space and Health
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Green space contributes to physical and mental wellbeing and offers therapeutic benefits for recovery from illness. CSH's foundation course explores the evidence and illustrates how you can integrate these into your own practice. The course is intended for health and social care professionals in primary, secondary or social care, including those working in mental health and rehabilitation and those who want to improve staff wellbeing. Sign up for our course on 25 January here.
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Green Space for Health is funded by the Government's Green Recovery Challenge Fund. The fund was developed by Defra and its Arm's-Length Bodies. It is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England, the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission.
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