Highlights and Insights: Green Health Network Event: 25 March

By Ian Mackenzie, Green Health Programme Manager

A big thank you to everyone who attended our Green Health Network Event on 25th March. It was a great opportunity to get together and discuss the important link between green health and staff wellbeing and explore the resources available to support you. For those who joined us at Astley Ainslie, I hope you enjoyed the lovely walking tour and the opportunity to enjoy some lunch outdoors. We couldn’t have asked for a better day!

We kicked off by introducing plans for our upcoming joint staff wellbeing campaign in collaboration with Work Well, launching in summer 2025. We also reflected on the valuable lessons learned from our 2024 campaign to help us make improvements this year.

We were really encouraged by the team effort for our first joint campaign, the increased awareness of the importance of connecting with nature for improved wellbeing, the adaptability of the resources produced (which are still being used now), and the local initiatives sparked by the campaign. Positive feedback from staff and site leads was also incredibly rewarding.

Whilst our 2024 campaign helped us make some great strides forward, including enhanced site-specific listings on our Green Health website, spring-themed materials, consistent communication, and a feature in Connections magazine, we also learned some valuable lessons to take forward for 2025.

For future campaigns, we’ll be focusing on:

Providing more specific activity suggestions that can be used across all sites.
A mix of prescriptive and adaptable campaign elements to support engagement.
Clearly defining campaign team roles and providing practical guidance.
Ensuring earlier distribution of materials.

There’s still a lot to be done but we are really looking forward to launching the campaign in summer 2025.

Thank you to Jetta Aitchison, Work Well Facilitator, and Aisling Murphy, Nature Rehabilitation Ranger at Astley Ainslie for sharing local initiatives in action with all the attendees, sparking some interesting thoughts and discussions.

Jetta shared updates on her collaboration with Lou Evans, our Nature Rehabilitation Ranger at the Bioquarter, highlighting regular green health activities like guided walks, planting workshops, and bike sessions. She also shared some exciting enhancements that are underway for the Staff Wellbeing Courtyard and improvements to the Wellbeing Walk, including better signage and reflection spaces.

Aisling shared her learnings from the first six months in post, emphasising the importance of involving staff in the design of activities, considering the impact of weather, and making participation easy for busy staff through drop-in sessions and by integrating activities with patient care.

Further discussions among the group then highlighted opportunities on ways to continue integrating green health into the NHS, including bringing nature indoors, exploring how nature could be incorporated into job roles, improving underutilised courtyards, and revisiting helpful resources from the pandemic to help encourage staff to find ways to connect with nature at a time that suits them.

Thank you again to everyone who participated. We’re excited to continue working together to support your wellbeing through the benefits of green health. Hopefully, we’ll see you all at our in-person network gathering on 13th May.