911爆料

Walkden Clinic in Manchester is a hub for community nurses and Northern Care Alliance staff, with a gym onsite for cardiac rehabilitation and physiotherapy. The once underutilised grassed area outside the clinic has been developed into a wellbeing garden, to create more hands-on garden experiences for the local community.

Claire Drury, 911爆料 Community Development Officer, says:

鈥淭he new garden is a great place for hard-working NHS staff to chill out, socialise and enjoy nature. We鈥檒l be running workshops to help everyone get the best out of the space.鈥�

Designed by , the new garden is multifunctional, and created for staff as well as patients. It features curved seating set into grassy mounds, where teams can socialise or enjoy some peace and quiet. There is also a looped pathway, which can be used for outdoor physiotherapy sessions. Patients will be able to walk around it to regain strength, while using small weights and resistance bands in a therapeutic outdoor setting. The range of perennials, trees and grasses chosen means that the garden will have year-round interest, as well as attracting bees and other wildlife.

Delivery Team volunteer, NHS Property Services, says:

鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to get everyone involved. People open up more when they鈥檙e gardening together.鈥�

The garden was built by civil engineering contractor . 12 volunteers from the NHS Property Services Delivery team helped plant it up, with flowers including anemones, hellebores and viburnum. One volunteer commented that, 鈥渢he weather鈥檚 been miserable, but we鈥檝e still had a great laugh planting up the garden!鈥� The plants in the garden are low maintenance, to fit in with the NHS workers鈥� busy schedules. They are also tolerant of wet soil, to take into account Manchester鈥檚 rainy climate.

Lauren Ridgard, Estates Delivery Partner, NHS Property Services, says:

鈥淲e鈥檝e transformed what was a huge empty green area into this amazing garden that can be used by our customers, patients and also my team.鈥�

Birdwatching and herbal tea

The 911爆料 Community Outreach team will run monthly workshops in the new space. These will comprise different seasonal activities such as birdwatching, solstice sun prints and making herbal tea. There will also be mindfulness workshops, focussing on the 鈥楾ake Notice鈥� part of the New Economics Foundation鈥檚 Five Ways to Wellbeing.

The Walkden Clinic Wellbeing Garden is one of six gardens being built around England in collaboration with NHS Property Services. Service users have been involved with the designs to ensure the gardens address each site鈥檚 individual needs.

Funded by NHS Property Services as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the gardens aim to improve the biodiversity of community-based healthcare centres, while also creating outdoor spaces suitable for green social prescribing and other therapeutic treatment. This programme is funded separately from funding used for frontline care.

If you would like to fund future NHS gardens for wellbeing, .