Critical care patients can enjoy the sunshine and fresh air on the top of King’s College Hospital in London, thanks to the first outdoor Critical Care garden created in a UK hospital.

The garden, with beds of scented flowers such as honeysuckle, jasmine and lavender, and textured foliage and grasses that patients can touch and smell from their beds, is located on top of the hospital’s 60-bed critical care unit, one of the largest in the country.

“It’s the antithesis of a hospital ward,” says garden designer Sarah Price, who devised the rooftop planting with her colleague, the late landscape architect Nigel Dunnett, having worked together on the Olympic Park for the London 2012 Olympics. Sarah is a three-time winner of the Chelsea Flower Show.

The garden can accommodate up to six beds, allowing each patient to be close to a weatherproof medical cabinet which houses power, data, and medical gas supplies like the care they would receive on the unit.

The Critical Care team will be able to research how exposure to fresh air, greenery and sunlight reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and improves the well-being of patients, their families and the staff who care for them.

Dr Phil Hopkins, intensive care consultant at King’s, says feeling nature is part of helping patients readjust when they’ve been institutionalised in hospital. “We don’t just want to save lives,” he says. “We want to return them to their lives as quickly as we can.”

Intensive care staff will also be able to access the rooftop space during breaks, which managers hope will offer them some respite too.

The project was funded by a £2m donation from King’s College Hospital Charity, plus some funding from the Trust. The charity raises money to improve patient experience and enhance innovation at King’s.

“We are delighted to have funded this visionary project, which is about more than medical excellence,” says Iona Joy, the charity’s Director of Grants and Insight. “It’s about dignity, humanity, and innovation. We are transforming intensive care into compassionate care — where science, technology, and empathy work together to save and rebuild lives.”

“Research shows that time spent in nature can reduce delirium, improve recovery outcomes, and lift the spirits of patients and their families,” says Dr Tom Best, Clinical Director of King’s Critical Care. “It’s important to treat the whole person and this outdoor critical care unit helps meet our goal of caring for the mind as well as the body.”

As part of ongoing research by the department, the Critical Care team will study whether accessing the garden improves patient recovery and reduces length of stay, as well as tracking patients’ long-term physical, cognitive and psychological outcomes. There will be an additional focus on how families and staff benefit from using the space, particularly in managing stress levels.

“The opening of our roof garden is an important milestone for our hospital; a project dedicated to those with serious and life-threatening conditions,” says Professor Clive Kay, Chief Executive of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “It’s been built with purpose and guided by the needs of patients and their families and reflects a deep commitment to dignity, support, and hope.”

Sources:

Outdoor Critical Care Roof Garden opens at King’s College Hospital. King’s College Hospital, May 29, 2026.

Hospital Opens Roof Garden Where Critical Care Patients Can Enjoy the Outdoors for Hours With Full Care. Good News Network, Jun. 27, 2026

‘I forgot what it’s like to be outside’: Intensive care ward opens on rooftop. BBC, May 29, 2026

UK’s first rooftop critical care garden opens in London. Reuters, Jun. 3, 2006