Sow the City worked with the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership to establish an NHS Green Spaces and Biodiversity Toolkit. The toolkit provides an innovative ‘how to’ guide for individuals who are involved with starting or developing environmental projects within healthcare settings.
The toolkit considers the policy context and case for green infrastructure in healthcare settings, before addressing methods to implement green and blue spaces across healthcare sites, and provides methods to monitor the interventions.
The toolkit outlines how healthcare settings can support nature and biodiversity, through habitat connectivity, wildflower meadows, planting trees, building green roofs and walls. It also looks at how we can build capacity across the NHS workforce and addresses how we can improve access to nature within healthcare sites, through investing in paths, encouraging patients to use the outdoor facilities. Ways to harness the physical and mental health benefits of green spaces are summarised, including biophilic design, therapeutic gardens and through Green Social Prescribing.
For further information about the toolkit please visit: Green Space and Biodiversity Toolkit | Sow The City
The toolkit and framework can be accessed directly here: