London's King's College Hospital has become the first hospital in the UK to open an outdoor Critical Care garden on its roof.

Located above the hospital's 60-bed critical care unit, the outdoor rooftop ward can accommodate up to six beds, allowing patients to receive full life support outside, including power and oxygen supplies, while having access to nature.

Hollie Allan, a 29-year-old critical care patient reliant on feeding tubes, became the first patient to use the new outdoor ward at the hospital.

'Humanizing intensive care'

"I think it gives you a real boost to keep on going when you're stuck inside all day," said Allan. "There's no motivation to really try and get back to normal life."

The £2m ($2.7m) project, funded largely by King's College Hospital Charity, is aimed at "improving patient wellbeing" and "humanizing intensive care," King's College hospital said.

"It will certainly improve the patient experience and hopefully we'll carry out a lot of research into this, and demonstrate that we can improve that patient care, we can reduce their length of stay with subsequent wider benefits as we hopefully roll this out across the National Health Service (NHS)," said Clive Kay, Chief Executive of the hospital.

The Critical Care team will be able to use the space to observe how exposure to fresh air, greenery and sunlight reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and improves the wellbeing of patients, their families and the staff who care for them.

Improved recovery outcomes

"Some of our most unwell patients spend weeks or even months in critical care receiving intensive and often invasive treatment to give them the best chance of recovery," explained Tom Best, Clinical Director of King's Critical Care.

"Many experience hallucinations or delirium in the clinical environment, which can be extremely frightening and delay recovery. Research shows that time spent in nature can reduce delirium, improve recovery outcomes, and lift the spirits of patients and their families," he added.

"It's important to treat the whole person and this outdoor critical care unit helps meet our goal of caring for the mind as well as the body."

The garden was designed through a collaboration between globally renowned landscape architect Nigel Dunnett and British garden designer Sarah Price, a three-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist.

Aromatic species, including rosemary, sage, and oregano, were incorporated alongside native species and tactile plants such as lamb's ear, resulting in a low-maintenance garden designed to encourage active engagement rather than passive observation.

"It's going to be absolutely critical to the NHS going forward because a lot of what we do is about rehabilitation, saving people's lives," said Critical Care consultant Phil Hopkins. "But making sure that when they leave intensive care, they leave in a way that they're not going to come back and are returning to their normal lives in the best possible shape."

The roof garden is the final part of the hospital’s Critical Care Center, one of the largest bespoke intensive care facilities in the UK and possibly Europe. This vital hub supports over  5,000 patients  and  15,000 loved ones each year.