PRACTICE PROFILE  LAMBETH GP FOOD CO-OP


Sowing the seeds for good health G


ROWING vegetables is not the usual scope of practice for a GP, so when NHS educator Ed Rosen approached


a group of clinicians with his ‘gardening for health’ idea, he was met with some scepticism. However, six years (and one Royal visit) later, his ground-breaking food co- operative project is flourishing. Today, 15 gardens have been created in


the grounds of doctors’ surgeries across the South London borough of Lambeth, growing everything from beetroot and mushrooms to herbs and potatoes. In these green spaces, patients and healthcare teams come together to cultivate crops as well as relationships. Alongside the more obvious practical lessons on gardening and healthy eating, the project has provided a lifeline for those affected by loneliness, depression, anxiety and chronic conditions such as diabetes and arthritis.


Ed, a self-confessed “novice gardener”,


is the director and driving force behind the Lambeth GP Food Co-op (LGPFC). So far the project has engaged with more than 400 patients, many of whom suffer from multiple long-term conditions and who live in high-rise tower blocks with no access to green spaces. The gardens provide an ideal, informal setting to highlight the importance of eating well and to offer nutritional advice. Ed says: “Dieticians and nutritionists from


St Thomas’ Hospital and Kings have come out, rolled their sleeves up and planted alongside


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An innovative project building gardens in GP practices is transforming patient care


patients. In doing so, they have spoken to patients about the nutritional value of what they are planting. They are low-key health conversations whilst they are collaborating in planting courgettes or pumpkins. “It does improve the quality of life for some of the most vulnerable people in society.”


PIONEERING WORK One local GP surgery actively involved in the food co-op is The Grantham Practice, which has a list of around 10,000 patients with over 60 ethnicities. Jonathan Wilmshurst is the former practice manager and now patient liaison at Grantham. “Our practice decided to do this not really


knowing how popular it would be,” says Jonathan. “We started out with just two planters at the back of the surgery and that turned into six and then we moved to a bigger site and it’s just grown from there really. “What we’ve found is that patients who


have taken part visit their doctor less. If they don’t get out much and they’re quite lonely, it gives them the opportunity to mingle and create friendships as well as a


little community. And that’s a good thing. Not everything can be sorted out in the four walls of a consulting room.” Indeed, Lambeth food co-operative is


something of a pioneer in the movement towards more widespread ‘social prescribing’ (where clinicians direct patients to a variety of cultural and community activities to improve quality of life). The initiative was established well before the UK government unveiled its “loneliness strategy” in 2018, which called on GPs to engage in more social prescribing. NHS national clinical lead for social


prescribing Dr Michael Dixon has praised their work as “a model of social prescribing in action”. At the same time, in February 2019, the food co-op received Royal recognition when Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited the LGPFC garden at Swan Mews in Lambeth for their sixth anniversary. And as Lambeth’s co-op goes from


strength to strength, other healthcare providers are taking note. A food garden has been built at the Pulross Centre in Brixton, a 20-bed unit which cares for patients with MS and who have suffered from stroke and other conditions. Ed says: “The OTs and physiotherapists


are planting and growing vegetables with patients, many of whom have lost limbs and are in wheelchairs. That is a really important model as we continue our journey in the acute sector and the community centre.”


AUTUMN 2019  ISSUE 21


PHOTOGRAPHS: DAN WELLDON/JIM WINSLET


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