NHS Forest

The NHS Forest is a project coordinated by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.  Funded by charitable trusts and corporate and individual sponsorship, the project’s central aims are to:

• improve the health and wellbeing of patients, staff and communities by increasing access to green space on or near to NHS land
• encourage greater social cohesion between NHS sites and the local communities around them
• spark projects that bring together professionals and volunteers to use new and existing woodland for art, food crops, reflection and exercise, and to encourage biodiversity
• highlight innovative ideas to encourage the use of gardens and other green space for therapeutic purposes.

They do this by:

• Planting the NHS Forest
• Setting up Green Health Routes
• Hosting the NHS Forest Conference
• Compiling an evidence base for the impact of nature on health
• Supporting the development of therapeutic gardens in clinical settings
• Embedding Nature Recovery Rangers at NHS sites
• Supporting workplace wellbeing initiatives using green space
• Partnering with green space and healthcare charities.

Find out more about their programmes here.