Staff working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead are enjoying a new garden.
Overlooking Hampstead, 'The Cecil Rosen Intensive Care Unit Sky Garden – Healing Heights’, will provide staff with a dedicated space to take time out and unwind away from the ICU. The garden is open for to all staff who work within the Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s ICU. This includes administrative colleagues, pharmacists, domestics, porters, doctors, nurses, and healthcare support workers.
Designed by architects, William Tozer Associates, and landscaped by Kate Gould Gardens, the garden has colourful Mediterranean flowers and herbs including rosemary and thyme planted around it to create a relaxing environment. Head of nursing, Mohammad Noor, said: “We are hugely grateful to the Cecil Rosen Foundation, Heathside Charitable Trust, and the North West London Jewish Community, for their generosity, and for making the creation of this garden possible. Working in critical care can often be very busy and demanding. This space offers our staff a peaceful haven that they can enjoy at any time of the day. It is testament to our exceptional teams, many of whom have been working behind the scenes to make this beautiful new garden a reality."
Rachel Anticoni, director of Operations at the Royal Free Hospital, added: “This space will have an incredible impact on the team. The garden will be used as a place to support colleagues, providing a place to decompress and take a breath during a challenging shift. Thank you to the donors and the Royal Free Charity for their support. This would not have been possible without the philanthropic community, and is a great encapsulation of the change we can make when we work together.”