Trust wins at NHS Forest Awards for biodiversity initiative

^{Len Richards (above), Chief Executive at Mid Yorkshire, helping to plant 4,000 tree whips during March.}

We are pleased to announce that Mid Yorkshire was named as a winner at the recent NHS Forest Awards for 2024.

This was in the category of ‘Most trees planted on an NHS Forest site’, and was in recognition of the 4,000 trees which were planted at our Pinderfields Hospital site as part of a native hedgerow initiative.

A mix of native broadleaf species, gifted by NHS Forest, were planted by over 50 volunteers from across the Trust and the wider community during five days, and have formed a new 800-metre-long boundary hedgerow around the Pinderfields Hospital fence line.

The trees were planted to help provide a host of sustainability and wildlife benefits, such as sequestering carbon, absorbing air pollution, helping to improve soil, decreasing surface water flood risk from over-saturated ground, enhancing security, and boosting visual amenity. The hedgerow also provides essential food and shelter for a wide array of wildlife.

This award from NHS Forest is testament to the positive impact achieved from a collective effort and represents a step towards a more sustainable future. This recognition inspires us to continue our commitment to environmental sustainability and community engagement, and it is hoped to expand on this planting across our Dewsbury and Pontefract hospital sites over the coming season.

We are deeply grateful to all the volunteers who made this achievement possible and look forward to nurturing these trees as they grow and flourish. Their dedication and hard work have left a lasting legacy that will benefit both the hospital and the wider community for generations to come.

The NHS Forest is an alliance of health sites working to transform their green space to realise its full potential for health, wellbeing and biodiversity, and to encourage engagement with nature. It is run by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, an independent UK charity, as part of its Green Space for Health programme.

The NHS Forest Awards were presented at the NHS Forest’s annual conference, which showcases the potential of the NHS green estate to be used strategically to support health and wellbeing of staff, patients and the wider community.