Outside garden areas on the Stepping Hill Hospital site are about to see new support and improvement with the appointment of a brand new specialist nature support role.
Nature recovery ranger Matt Ross is now working two days a week on the site helping to create more nature friendly green spaces, and supporting staff, patients and visitors to access them to support their physical and mental wellbeing.
He is one of nine rangers based across ten NHS Trusts around the country working as part of the NHS Forest / Healthy by Nature project, spearheaded by The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) and funded by the National Lottery. The project is led by CSH’s Green Space for Health team who also manage the NHS Forest project, which has planted more than 160,000 trees across hundreds of NHS sites.
The rangers aim to inspire and support healthcare sites to transform their green spaces for health, wellbeing and biodiversity. It’s hoped the project will benefit over 86,000 community members across the ten areas by connecting people with nature at NHS sites.
Matt will also be spending two days a week at Tameside Hospital, as he works with both Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Time in green space has the power to reduce stress and anxiety, and has been proven to benefit many physical and mental health conditions. The initiative also supports the NHS’s commitment to tackling climate change and improving biodiversity, as well as demonstrating how healthcare settings can lead the way in preventative and community-based care as outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan for England.
“Nature is more than just a nice to have, our pilot project showed that bringing nature and healthcare together creates incredible benefits for everyone involved,” said Sarah Jordan, Green Space Director at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.
“Over 90% of pilot participants reported improved wellbeing and told us that the programme made their area a better place to live.”
Matt is currently reviewing opportunities to plant more wildflowers and pollinator-friendly plants on site, and looking at where mowing plans could be reviewed to increase biodiversity on site. He is also working in some courtyard garden spaces, and will be running some nature connection drop-in activities for staff over the summer.
Matt has long experience in the area, having previously spent nine years running and educational and community centre for the Peak District National Park Rangers, and also running his own health walk business. These initiatives included a social prescription ‘woodland wellbeing’ group, and running a programme of Nature Prescriptions for Derbyshire.
Matt said; “I’ve loved nature my whole life, and have been fortunate to spend most of my career connecting people with it. Time and time again, I have seen the health wellbeing benefits that can be unlocked with people spending time in nature, and its great to be bringing that to people in the hospital services in Stockport and Tameside, whether that’s patients, visitors or staff.
I’m really looking forward to working with colleagues and making real and lasting improvements soon. ”
In the short video clip below, you can also see Matt explain about his role.