The 2023-2024 tree planting season is over and we’re excited to see the newly planted saplings start to grow. Whilst we take stock of everything we have achieved we wanted to share some of our successes.
 | We planted trees at over 140 different healthcare sites |
| We worked with 119 different trusts, health boards or primary care networks |
| We increased the number of trees planted by 166% compared to last year |
| Each tree planted will absorb around a tonne of carbon over its lifetime |
| The trees will provide shade and shelter when mature and will help to reduce summer temperatures inside healthcare buildings |
| Each mature tree helps prevent flooding by moving water either deep underground or into the air and by storing water in its roots, trunk and branches |
| Each tree supports biodiversity and will eventually become home to a range of species including birds, mammals, insects and microorganisms |
| The trees will help to clean the air around healthcare sites by capturing harmful particulates |
Alban Healthcare PCN, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham East Central PCN, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, Cumbria, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, DHU Healthcare CIC, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, East Hill, Abbey Field and Tollgate PCN, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Humber and North Yorkshire ICB, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Moseley, Billesley and Yardley Wood PCN, New Gordano Valley PCN, NHS Tayside, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, South East Telford PCN, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, St Barnabas Hospice Trust, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Swansea Bay University Health Board, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, WPC PCN, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Before and after tree planting at a few NHS Forest sites
What’s new for 2024-2025?
We are now getting ready to plant even more trees this winter. Excitingly, we have some new additions to our schemes. This year, we are offering a smaller bundle of just 10 trees. This is ideal for those sites who don’t have enough space for 30. We are also adding a few extra varieties in the mix such as spindle, which is great for biodiversity.
We’re keen to help more sites explore larger woodland creation projects. We even have a few larger standard trees available for these applications. In addition to the woodland creation scheme, we hope to offer six Tiny Forests – please get in touch if you’d like to know more. A Tiny Forest is a dense, fast-growing native woodland, about the size of a tennis court.
Our final addition for this year is our orchard scheme. We are very excited to use orchards in healthcare sites as a starting point to talk about food security. We have up to 2000 fully-funded fruit trees. There will also be training sessions alongside this scheme provided by The Orchard Project. Training will cover design, maintenance and how to use the orchard year in nature-based solutions.
If you want to find out more about any of our tree planting schemes, visit our tree planting page.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us
All this work has been possible thanks to generous funding from Defra and support from the Forestry Commission and the National Lottery Heritage Fund as well as our incredible sponsors. The NHS Forest team would also like to thank all the healthcare staff and volunteers who helped get the trees in the ground.