Within the footprint of the hospitals there are several courtyard areas which provide important access and sight lines to green spaces, supporting patient care. A current development is the ‘Garden of Reflection’ at Trafford General Hospital, turning an unused courtyard into an improved outdoor space for peaceful reflection. The design has been specially developed with patient needs at its core encompassing removable planters to bring green spaces indoors, an innovative lighting design to provide interest out of season and a dementia friendly planting scheme with limited colour palette.
In 2021, 50 trees were planted at Trafford General Hospital.
To enable a better understanding of the environmental and health potential for the trust’s green spaces, in 2018 we commissioned an ecological and natural capital assessment. This identified that 19% of the Estate consisted of green spaces of which 15% was tree cover. This has provided a helpful baseline to understand future opportunities, balancing the ecological value of providing greater biodiversity impact, with the social requirements of having accessible spaces with visual appeal.