King’s College Hospital has become the first hospital in the UK to open an outdoor critical care garden on its roof, located on top of its 60-bed critical care unit.
The new garden has space for up to six beds, enabling each patient to be close to a specially designed weatherproof, medical cabinet which houses power, data and medical gases, such as oxygen. It means that patients can enjoy the benefits of being outdoors, without being disconnected from essential life-support systems.
How patients- and their families - will benefit from the roof garden
By offering access to fresh air, sunlight and greenery in a calming space, King’s Critical Care Roof Garden can open new paths to recovery for critically ill patients.
Being in nature can help reduce symptoms such as hallucinations and delirium- a sudden, acute state of confusion and altered mental state that often occurs in hospital patients- and can be triggered by illness, infection or trauma.
Patients often report that their first experience of being outdoors marks a turning point in their recovery and it can help accelerate patient recovery times.
Being in nature also has a positive impact on patients’ emotional wellbeing, offering a calming contrast to the noisy, often enclosed environment of a critical care unit. It can lift spirits, increase motivation for rehabilitation and improve morale and quality of life. This is especially important for patients who have been in hospital for extended periods, often months at a time.
As with patients, the families of patients will benefit as the roof garden offers a quiet and peaceful space for them to spend precious time with their loved ones, especially important during difficult moments and for those receiving end of life care.
A pioneering model for critical care in the future
The new roof garden is pioneering in its design and infrastructure, its many benefits for patients and how it will operate at scale, with its capacity to support patients on the 60- bed critical care unit at King’s College Hospital.
By helping improve recovery and shorten hospital stays, it can have a positive impact for patients and their families and also help reduce treatment costs across the NHS.
The Charity and Trust Critical Care team has had strong interest from other NHS trusts and other hospital charities looking to take their lead from King’s and consider replicating this innovative model in other parts of the UK.
Exciting possibilities for new research
The Critical Care team at King’s College Hospital will use the new garden to conduct research on how exposure to fresh air, greenery and sunlight reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and improves the well-being of patients, their families and the staff who care for them.
Acquiring data on the benefits of the roof garden will inform future care for critically ill patients and ensure a holistic approach to supporting their needs.
How the Charity helped make the new roof garden possible
King’s College Hospital Charity helped to make the new roof garden a reality by contributing £2m in donations to its development. King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust also provided some funding.
Contributing to major projects like King’s Care Critical Roof Garden is one of the ways King’s College Hospital Charity helps to improve the patient experience at King’s through innovative approaches to care.
Iona Joy, Director of Grants and Insight at King’s College Hospital Charity, said:
“We’re delighted to have funded this visionary project, which is about more than medical excellence. It’s about dignity, humanity, and the healing power of nature. We’re transforming intensive care into compassionate care — where medicine, technological innovation, and empathy work together to save and rebuild lives.”
The garden was designed through a collaboration between globally renowned, landscape architect Nigel Dunnett—Professor of Planting Design, Urban Horticulture and Vegetation Technology at the University of Sheffield—and British garden designer Sarah Price, a three-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist.
Sadly, Professor Dunnett died shortly before King’s Critical Care Roof Garden opened. King’s College Hospital Charity is extremely grateful for his immense contribution to the new garden and his extraordinary creative vision in developing its innovative design.
