University Hospital Lewisham Wellbeing Garden

A partnership between the RHS and NHS to develop wellbeing spaces for staff, patients and the local community

In 2022, the RHS partnered with the NHS trust at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL), to co-create its first wellbeing garden for hospital staff affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of the project was to create a vital hub for NHS staff, patients and the wider community to come together and connect through nature.

How the UHL Wellbeing Garden began

During the pandemic, Maria Leong, an anaesthetist registrar at UHL, contacted the RHS requesting support to develop a garden, to enable NHS staff to take a break from their intense workloads – a space to breathe and to reflect and remember colleagues they had lost to Covid-19.

Maria explains, “For patients and their relatives, it will be a chance to escape the clinical environment and talk with their loved ones. We are working on involving lots of different patient groups, such as paediatric patients, and those with chronic pain and dementia. The path will also be able to accommodate hospital beds, enabling staff to bring stable but critically ill patients outside to feel fresh air, sunshine and be in a green space.”

Leading garden designer Adam Frost, who is passionate about celebrating our NHS heroes, designed the scheme.

An idea is born

Hear Maria talk about where the idea came from and Adam shares his vision for the garden.

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“After listening to what people had been going through and how green spaces can help, I jumped at the chance to work with NHS staff.”

Adam Frost

Support NHS wellbeing gardens

Help us build and grow NHS wellbeing gardens around the country by donating today. Your gift will help us realise our vision to create safe and welcoming green spaces for hospitals and their local communities. From providing quiet respite areas to reflect, to active gardening groups bringing people together, the NHS wellbeing gardens will bring a vital boost to the wellbeing and environment at NHS hospitals.

You can donate online, or call 020 7821 3125.

A closer look at the garden

RHS Director General Clare Matterson and Abbie Frost (daughter of Adam Frost) visiting the garden

Visitors exploring the UHL Wellbeing Garden at its opening

Key elements of the garden include:

  • Safety features such as lighting so the garden feels safe even for those working night shifts
  • Large shelter with a green roof
  • Inclusive communal spaces for social events and arts activities
  • Spaces with seating for quiet reflection or private conversations
  • Naturalistic planting with seasonal interest

  • Mindful and active gardening spaces for yoga and other activities
  • Community vegetable beds with raised ends and sufficient space on all sides to ensure accessibility
  • Nature-rich wellbeing walk along the nearby river
  • Herb patches where staff can pick herbs for their lunches or take home to their families

“This previously unloved space is now a welcoming green oasis for Trust staff wishing to have a break from their busy shifts.”

Margarita Vidiella, Head of Charity at Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust

The RHS is building community partnerships over three years to engage, train and upskill local volunteers and staff to look after the garden into the future. This is the first NHS wellbeing garden, and other regional hubs are in development. The RHS wants the gardens created to be hopeful places that have a transformational impact on the wellbeing of the communities they sit within.

Proud gardening club volunteers

Close-up of herbs planted in beds at UHL Wellbeing Garden

“Gardening is a leveller that we can all share, no matter our background.”

Maria Leong

Opening of the UHL Garden

Hear from NHS staff and gardening volunteers as they celebrate the opening of our first wellbeing garden on the grounds of University Hospital Lewisham.

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Impact of the wellbeing garden so far

Our Community Outreach team have forged close partnerships with many local organisations to develop an inclusive wellbeing programme and promote the garden as a safe, peaceful and tranquil local asset for everyone to use. There is a weekly club in the hospital garden where staff and patients are invited to switch off, learn a new skill and meet new people in a safe space, where activities include everything from yoga, meditation and wellbeing walks to dried flowers, houseplant care and mosaic making. There are also sessions for adults with additional needs, patient and carer support groups such as a dementia group and a perinatal group.

“Lewisham needed this! Really needed this!”

Participant of Lewisham Mencap

We work with Mencap, a volunteer-run charity run by and for people with a learning disability, their families and carers, to support around 50 adults with additional needs, helping to build their confidence with gardening in their local green spaces and at their social club garden. Sessions have included tasting herbs, decorating pots and sowing their favourite herb seeds; and starting to tidy up their own garden.

Volunteering at UHL Wellbeing Garden

Find out how the University Hospital Lewisham Wellbeing Garden is supporting NHS staff, patients and the wider community through gardening.

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“I absolutely loved the workshop, at one point I even felt close to tears as I could smell the earth in the flower bed next to me and looking down the winding path ahead filled me with joy.”

Workshop participant
NHS staff socialising in the wellbeing garden

Garden decorations made by staff and volunteers

Sustainability at its heart

Co-creating gardens within NHS settings supports the NHS strategic shift towards social prescribing and preventative health interventions, as well as contributing towards the NHS ‘Net Zero’ strategy, which aims to tackle the climate crisis in ways that include developing the green infrastructure of their sites.

The garden programme also links to the RHS Sustainability Strategy, which states that within the decade, the RHS aims to become net positive for nature and for people, encouraging and enabling gardeners to do the same.

Building a national wellbeing gardens network

Our vision is to create a UK-wide network of community wellbeing gardens across the country. This will be a green web of welcoming, safe, neutral, accessible and inclusive spaces – social hubs where plants, skills, ideas, kindness and support are shared. Our RHS wellbeing gardens initiative is being piloted at University Hospital Lewisham with the aim of rolling out the model and benefits to healthcare sites across the country. 

The wider network will be informed by learnings from Lewisham Hospital Garden and will also be designed by our RHS Wellbeing Gardens Ambassador, Adam Frost. We are currently working with healthcare trusts and community organisations to deliver two more wellbeing gardens at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds and Colchester Hospital in Essex. There is potential to expand the programme in future years.

Gardening for wellbeing is a key focus for the RHS. We are conducting practical scientific research into the environmental and social benefits of gardens and plants, and raising the profile of gardens and gardening to support people’s wellbeing through strong links to government, the horticultural industry and our community partners.

“Healing spaces such as this are invaluable in times of difficulty. I hope Wellbeing Gardens become a feature of every hospital in the UK.”

UHL partner

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.