Woodlands ‘could save NHS and employers £185m a year’
THE boost to mental health and wellbeing caused by people spending time in the UK’s woodlands saves the health service and employers around £185 million each year, according to new research.
Published during National Tree Week, the research is the first attempt to quantify the benefit to mental health and wellbeing of the UK’s woodlands. It found woodlands save £141 million in mental health care costs in England, £26 million in Scotland, £13 million in Wales and £6 million in Northern Ireland.
Annual NHS spending on mental health treatment will be £14.3 billion in 2020/21, according to NHS England data.
The report’s authors, Government funded company
Forest Research, said the total savings figure was likely to be an underestimate.
One of the main drivers of the boost to wellbeing is likely to be the increased physical exercise, the researchers said, but other factors that are more difficult to measure are also likely to be at play.
They cite the example of “forest bathing” – the practice of mindfulness in woodlands, often while walking, accompanied by activities such as meditative breathing exercises.
Funded by the Forestry Commission, Scottish Forestry and the Welsh Government, the study was based on 2016 research that found weekly visits to outdoor green spaces of at least 30 minutes can reduce the prevalence of depression in the population by 7%. Using this starting point, the researchers compared this to data gathered by the Public Opinion of Forestry Survey, which has been conducted by Forest Research every two years since 1995.
In 2019, 37% of respondents in England and Northern Ireland visited woodland at least several times a month, while in Wales this figure was an estimated at 44%, rising to 51% among people in Scotland.
Around 3.3% of UK adults have a diagnosis of depression, 5.9% suffer from anxiety and a further 7.8% have a common, unspecified mental health disorder, according to NHS data.
In 2020, it cost the NHS an estimated £1,640 to treat a patient with depression and £705 to treat anxiety.
The report also considered the value of trees in streets, and found they potentially shave £16 million off the cost to the NHS each year of treating poor mental health.