PRESCRIBING NATURE FOR WELLNESS

Doctors are prescribing nature to patients in the UK's Shetland Islands. Long walks, bird-watching and making daisy chains are being prescribed by doctors to patients in Scotland's Shetland Islands as part of their treatment for chronic illnesses. A partnership project between National Health Service Shetland and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Scotland, which is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, has been extended following a successful pilot, which took place at Scalloway surgery last year. From this week, all of Shetland’s GPs will be able to prescribe nature as part of their patient’s treatment.

RSPB Scotland has produced a leaflet and a calendar of seasonal activities using local knowledge and understanding of connecting people with nature. It attempts to provide a greater variety of ways to realize the health benefits that nature can provide regardless of health condition, confidence or if you are a sociable or more solitary person. The leaflet will be handed out at each doctor’s discretion. "Through the 'Nature Prescriptions' project GPs (doctors) and nurses can explain and promote the many benefits which being outdoors can have on physical and mental well-being," Lauren Peterson, health improvement practitioner for NHS Shetland, said in a statement... (CNN – RSPB)