NHS Forest project cherry picked for National Innovation Programme

From green to gold – Campaign for Greener Healthcare’s NHS Forest project cherry picked for National Innovation Programme

The Campaign for Greener Healthcare’s project, the NHS Forest, has been chosen to participate in a top innovation programme funded by the Cabinet Office and run by the Innovation Unit. The Green Next Practice programme identifies high-potential innovation projects that are greening public services and provides them with bespoke support. The NHS Forest is one of only seven projects chosen from many entrants across the UK.

The NHS Forest aims to green the NHS through promoting greater awareness of the links between health and the environment. Specifically, the project enables thousands of NHS patients, staff and visitors and local people to enjoy better access to green space on or near to NHS land. The project also brings together professionals and volunteers to create woodland that includes the use of art, food crops, wood fuel and biodiversity.

By working with staff at hospitals and health centres across the UK, and with local people at each site, the project aims to spread the idea of sustainability. On a practical level, the greening of the sites will encourage NHS staff to use the spaces for outdoor therapy with their patients, and will enable people who live nearby – many of whom have little or no access to the natural environment – to enjoy the medical and social benefits of being outdoors. Indeed, studies have shown that access to green space, particularly including trees, reduces people’s stress levels, increases their physical activity and speeds their recovery if they have been ill. 

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Rachel Stancliffe, Director of The Campaign for Greener Healthcare, says “this project helps to link health and the environment in a very positive, tangible way and has been incredibly popular with staff and patients. It helps to transform hospitals and GP surgeries, which are sometimes seen as buildings of illness, into healthy places and promotes the idea of a Natural Health Service where people enjoy healthy lifestyles in a healthy environment.”

The Green Next Practice programme provides support to innovation projects from the community and voluntary sector. Innovation Unit is excited to be working with the project, and the Unit’s Managing Partner, John Craig, celebrates the achievement of the NHS Forest:

“Greening public services is vital if the Government is to meet its target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. The NHS Forest demonstrates that innovative projects like this can make a real difference not only at a local level, saving money and bringing benefits to communities, but also at a national and a global level in the fight against climate change.”

The Innovation Unit is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to influence public debate, re-shape public policy and transform public services. They are committed to using the power of innovation to solve social challenges, and they have a strong track record of supporting leaders and organisations delivering public services to see and do things differently.

The Campaign for Greener Healthcare is excited that the NHS Forest project has been chosen to be part of the Green Next Practice programme, and is looking forward to developing skills and links to enable the project to grow even further with help from the Innovation Unit.