Ingrid Howarth has transformed Wanstead Place Surgery’s backyard into a wellbeing garden much appreciated by doctors and staff
The Wanstead Place Surgery Patient Participation Group (PPG) decided last summer to create an outdoor space for wellbeing activities by improving the surgery’s backyard. The yard resembled a concrete jungle, invaded by weeds one metre high. The storage shed and timber fence panels were showing signs of rot and junior maple trees had begun life in the gutters of the shed. To make matters worse, there was no outside garden tap and therefore no direct access to water, vital for any garden.
As a Wanstead resident and patient of the surgery, I offered to take on the challenge and create a welcoming outdoor space suitable for the doctors, trainees and staff.
My work began in early June, lifting five-dozen concrete slabs to create an outline shape. Roughly two thousand wild garlic bulbs (half of which are probably still there) were lifted; weeds, old tree stumps and various other bits were bagged up for the fortnightly waste collections.
Once the areas for planting were established and cleared, a trip to Redbridge Garden Centre ensued to buy soil, compost and a host of plants and shrubs. Some patients and other Wanstead residents, encouraged by the project, kindly donated plants from their own gardens. A big thank you goes to a friendly neighbour who offered to remove over 200 kilos of rubbish and then installed a very useful garden tap.
Planting continued in earnest over a two-month period. The panels and gates were wood-filled and painted to add colour to what was a drab area. The storage shed was cleaned and painted brilliant white and an old bookcase, shoe stand and beer drum were upcycled and now act as plant stands for colourful potted plants.
The once dull outdoor space is now flourishing with colour and happiness, and with seeds and bulbs in place for the spring, the future is looking even brighter. The first summer has already provided a wonderful space for lunch breaks, staff and PPG meetings, as well as training sessions for GP trainees and medical students. There are growing ideas of offering the garden for wellbeing and other outdoor activities for patients in the coming years.
Wanstead Place Surgery is a large practice with a vibrant clinical team of six senior GPs, four GP trainees, three nurses, two physiotherapists and a clinical pharmacist. This is a surgery of family doctors; some of them have been resident for over two decades and have witnessed previous youngsters become parents themselves.
The surgery is located at 45 Wanstead Place, Wanstead, E11 2SW. For more information, call 020 8989 1968 or visit wnstd.com/wps