Critical care patients at King's Hospital can now visit rooftop garden

At King’s College Hospital in south London, intensive care patients can go outside in their beds and stay connected to life support. The roof garden has room for six beds, each within reach of power and medical gas supplies.

Before a visit, staff assess the risks for the individual patient. A nurse goes with them, according to the Intensive Care Society. The garden’s designers chose plants that people can smell or touch, including rosemary and the soft leaves of lamb’s ear.

When Gilbert asked how the hospital would test whether visits helped patients recover, King’s said on 28 October that its critical care staff were testing ways to record information about people using the garden. The team wants to check what it can study and how to measure safety.

Those early records could help staff design a study following patients over time. The hospital hopes eventually to involve other intensive care units. For now, patients well enough to visit can spend time among plants while their care continues.

Sources

• King’s College Hospital’s garden announcement and its reply to Gilbert on 28 October.
• Intensive Care Society on staffing and transfers.
• Good News Network’s original report.