NHS Forest Conference 2024
Healthy Spaces: Integrating trees and green space into the NHS
Date – 4 October 2024
Time 10am-4pm
Venue – This is a hybrid event online via Zoom and in person at Glenfield Hospital, Groby Road, Leicester, LE3 9QP in their Clinical Education Centre lecture theatre.
Attendees can book either an online or in-person place at the event. All places are free of charge, but we welcome donations to help support our work.
In-person tickets are limited to 50 spaces and include light refreshments and a tour of Glenfield Hospital’s beautiful Secret Garden.
Join us on 4th October 2024 for the NHS Forest Conference. This year the theme is ‘Integrating trees and green space into the NHS’ and will be exploring how trees on healthcare sites are important for sustainability, clinical practice and community. 2024 will be our first ever hybrid conference taking place online and in person at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.
We’re excited to announce that Flo Headlam will be our keynote speaker. Flo spent more than 20 years working in the charity sector before beginning a journey into horticulture. Flo is a TV presenter and a regular contributor to Gardeners’ World online magazine. She is currently involved in several community gardening initiatives in the London area and is patron at Green Hub Project for Teens and trustee at Vital Beats charity. She is an Equity Ambassador for British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI). Flo will be joining the conference virtually.
We are also delighted that the chair for the event will be Professor Baroness Kathy Willis. Kathy is Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Biology and the Principal of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. She is also a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. Previous roles include Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee.
Other speakers include:
- Julie Hogg, Chief Nurse, University Hospitals Leicester
- Dave Bell, Principal Adviser: Health and the Environment, Natural England
- Alex Watkins, Occupational Therapist Technician at Langdon Hospital
- Dr Mark Hayden, Consultant in Cardiac Intensive Care at Great Ormond St Hospital
- Professor Gurch Randhawa, Professor of Diversity in Public Health & Director of the Institute for Health Research at University of Bedfordshire
- Elliot Watson, Project Co-ordinator for the Get Yourself Active programme, Disability Rights UK
- Will Beasley, Director Cae Felin CSA CIC and Consultant UGI Surgeon at Swansea Bay University Health Board
We will also be announcing the winners of the NHS Forest Awards. Nominations are now open. This is a great opportunity to recognise sites or projects that have developed interesting green space opportunities for staff, patients and the community.
What to expect from the day
10.00 Welcome
10.15 Keynote speech from Flo Headlam (delivered virtually)
10.35 Discussion with Flo Headlam and questions from delegates
11.00 First session – Trees for sustainability.
12.00 Break
12.15 Second session – Trees for clinical practice
13.15 Lunch break and 30-minute tour of the gardens at Glenfield Hospital or online speed networking for online delegates.
14.15 Third session – Trees for community
15.20 – NHS Forest Awards.
16.00 – Close
This project is funded by the Trees Call to Action Fund. The fund was developed by Defra in partnership with the Forestry Commission and is being delivered by the Heritage Fund. We are also grateful for separate funding for this event from the Forestry Commission.