The Wildlife Trusts are playing an important role in reducing the impact of poor public health on NHS services, by delivering a number of projects across the UK, focused on improving human health through engagement with nature. These projects can be classed as green prescribing, the practice of supporting people in engaging in nature-based interventions and activities to improve their mental health. Studies increasingly show that nature plays a critical role in our physical and mental wellbeing. For example, the People and Nature Survey data recorded in January 2022 that 90% of adults in England reported they view green and natural spaces as good places for mental health and wellbeing. This shows the importance of green prescribing and the potential for these projects to alleviate the burden on the NHS as well as improving and enhancing our natural environment.
It’s clear from our results that green prescribing has the potential to deliver cost saving benefits to the NHS and ‘take weight out of the system’. For example, for the Early Intervention scheme in Bury which supports people experiencing psychosis and to promote healthy living, socialisation, and access to services, through social prescribing we estimated that from people spending time in nature there would be a reduction in mental health care treatment costs by £7,024 per year. For the Wild at Heart Clifton Park in Rotherham project, we estimated there would be a reduction in NHS costs in terms of inpatient admissions, A&E attendances and outpatient appointments by £38,646 per year. The size of savings varies depending on the size of the scheme and the methodology applied to estimate cost savings. Furthermore, green prescribing has the potential to deliver healthcare cost savings in a cost-effective way – i.e., green prescribing can deliver a greater saving in healthcare costs than the cost of running the green prescribing scheme. Even accepting that there may be additional cost-savings and other additional benefits that have not been included in this analysis, the Wild at Heart Clifton Park in Rotherham and Early Intervention project in Bury are both estimated to deliver a return of >£1 per £1 invested, as does the Wild Health project in Wales depending on the methodology applied to estimate the effects.
Evidence gathered through this study suggests that green prescribing can and has provided benefits for various groups who suffer from health inequalities. These include individuals with restricted mobility and communication, those more receptive to soft touch assistance, the most vulnerable people in the community, older people, carers, participants from under-served areas and ethnic minorities. The projects have helped improve physical and mental health and address barriers related to access, engagement, and representation. Several Wildlife Trusts have addressed access and engagement barriers by visiting people’s homes in the Feed the Birds project and through a network of outdoor providers in the Nature Wellbeing Prescribing pilot. The Nature Nurtures project also targeted underrepresented communities, making nature more inclusive.
The Wildlife Trusts are playing a key role (either as project lead, partner, or stakeholder) in a range of green prescribing projects and activities. The Wildlife Trusts’ website hosts a Nature for Wellbeing page which shows some of the services that are on offer from Wildlife Trusts across the UK, and these include:
- a range of wellbeing projects run in each of the 5 regions (North, South, Midlands, Wales and Scotland) to improve physical and mental health
- delivery and management of some of the pilots under the Green Prescribing for Mental Health demonstration programme
- delivery and management of schemes and projects that have spun out of the national pilot. For example, the Wild at Heart project in Sheffield is currently being funded by the Rotherham Social Prescribing Service which is part of the Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System and has received funding through the above programme. Another example is the Take Root service project in Kent
- school engagement programmes like Nature Friendly Schools, and
• youth engagement services as found within the Our Bright Future partnership.
