ON DOCTORS ORDERS

Unusual things that doctors now prescribe

THIS week: Gardening AT LEAST four areas of the country, including Hammersmith and Bromley by Bow in London and Rotherham, South Yorkshire, are running GP-referred gardening schemes aiming to help, among others, elderly patients who feel isolated, long-term carers and those with mental health problems. Patients, who are selected because they don’t have their own green space, visit a charity-funded garden once or twice a week for three to four months to help them stay active and feel connected to something as they tend the plants. GPs and researchers involved in the schemes say the benefits can be huge. ‘In Rotherham, £600,000 was given to 30 charities offering community initiatives, including gardening,’ says Professor Jeremy Levy, clinical lead at Health Education North West London NHS Trust, who studies the schemes. ‘About 1,300 patients attended and the resulting fall in usage of the NHS was 20 per cent fewer A&E visits, 20 per cent fewer GP appointments and 21 per cent fewer outpatient appointments. Within the first year, the estimated saving to the NHS was £552,000.’