Green Health Partnerships

Four pilot Green Health Partnerships have been established to demonstrate how better cross-sectoral co-ordination can mainstream approaches to increasing physical activity and improving mental health through engagement with the natural environment.

Led by local health boards and local authorities, these partnerships bring together the health, social care, environment, leisure, sport and active travel sectors in order to make more use of local green space as a health-promoting resource.

Action plans are being implemented that are shaped around local health priorities including tackling health inequalities, and connect with current initiatives such as Realistic Medicine, social prescribing and public health reform.

Each partnership draws on its sound knowledge of community needs, existing outdoor assets and green health activity, and adds value by identifying co-benefits. Funding support for the Green Health Partnerships is provided by NatureScot, Scottish Government and Transport Scotland with additional support from national partners including Scottish Forestry, Public Health Scotland, Paths for All and TCV.

Green Health Partnerships

This key element of Our Natural Health Service programme is being piloted in four areas -

• North & South Lanarkshire                 
• Dundee
• North Ayrshire
• Highland

Published reports

Data collected by the four Green Health Partnerships using a common logic model and monitoring framework have been used to produce a report on Green Health Partnerships in Scotland – evaluation of the first three years and a summary. The report shows how the GHPs’ activities in the first three years of operation (2018 – 2021) have helped them to achieve their five key aims. The range and volume of work the evaluation report illustrates is creditable considering the impact of Covid-19 during this period.

Following the establishment of the four GHPs during 2018, a series of research interviews were undertaken with some of the individuals involved at an operational and strategic level. Read the research report which explores their experience of the first year of delivery and their thoughts on longer-term mainstreaming of the GHP approach.