Kirsty Douglas

My background is in healthcare, and this project encompasses many of my interests – the outdoors, holistic care, staff wellbeing, design and culture change. 

It was influenced by my personal experiences (as a patient, family member and healthcare worker) and by a growing evidence base which clearly links staff wellbeing to quality of patient care, patient satisfaction and, importantly, workforce retention.

“Our garden” aimed to creatively engage with staff to explore their “needs and wants” with respect to underutilised greenspaces at Ninewells. I designed and made two engagement tools (a pop up stall and toolkit) to promote discussion and capture ideas from a large, diverse group of staff. Around 170 staff took part. 

Staff were supportive of the project, and of re-imagining Ninewells’ hospital greenspace. Results were analysed using affinity clustering. Key themes identified were: accessibility, flexible space, an “escape”, connection (with self, others and nature), multisensory space, practicalities matter and separate staff space. 

Perhaps the biggest challenge lies ahead! Now we need to communicate these results, and work collaboratively (within NHS constraints) to bring about meaningful change, as part of wider action to support staff wellbeing.

Although this work focuses on a staff perspective, the hope is that it will inform ongoing collaborative work to develop accessible, well designed outdoor spaces for staff, patients and relatives throughout NHS Tayside.