Planting woods for hospitals
15 December 2009
Hundreds of trees are springing up at hospitals and healthcare trusts all over the country as a campaign to plant a tree for every health worker in the NHS gets under way.
The NHS Forest, co-ordinated by the charity Campaign for Greener Health and supported by conservation groups including Natural England, the Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust, aims to plant a tree for every health worker in the country – 1.3 million trees in all. It's hoped the resulting green spaces will benefit patients, staff and local communities while at the same time helping to offset the carbon footprint of the NHS and reduce its impact on the environment.
The first 500 saplings have already been planted under 10 pilot projects, many of which are forging new links between communities and their local hospitals as voluntary groups, schools and gardening enthusiasts join forces with NHS staff to plant and maintain the new trees.
In Birmingham, primary school children have collected acorns to grow on for the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, which is planning to expand its existing mature trees by another 800 – one for each member of staff working there. Local volunteers are also helping Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool to create a Children's Health Park where its patients can recover through play, and staff at a GP's surgery in Hertfordshire have planted 300 trees on neighbouring farmland.
Staff and patients are now identifying further areas of land in or near NHS sites which can be transformed into wooded green spaces.
You can support the scheme by joining in a project near you, or by sponsoring a tree: find out how here.