Annie's sustainable approach helps patients and the planet
A Swansea Bay occupational therapist is championing litter-picking and gardening for patients, blending therapy and the environment in an innovative way.
Wales’s new sustainable champion is helping Swansea Bay’s patients look after themselves and their environment at the same time.
The health board’s Occupational Therapist Team Lead Annie Hill supports adult mental health patients with their recovery and rehabilitation, and is using her passion for sustainability as a way of delivering healthcare which is also kinder to the planet.
Annie’s ideas have been noted by fellow health providers around the UK, and she has also been recognised at the NHS Wales Sustainability Awards – winning the Sustainability Champion Wales Award.
PICTURED: Annie Hill (centre) pictured with her award presented by the award's hosts.
The role of occupational therapists includes using a number of interventions to help patients in their recovery, including developing independent living skills, addressing vocational needs and increasing structure and routine through engagement in meaningful activities.
Annie’s sustainable approach has identified an opportunity to use the region’s landscape as a way of providing holistic care that is also benefiting the local area.
Annie, along with her colleagues in Occupational Therapy, have championed therapeutic groups to help drive engagement and achievements of patients.
Litter picking in local parks and beaches and planting flowers and growing crops at an agriculture project in Morriston have been among the successful initiatives helping patients boost their confidence and wellbeing, while helping the environment around them.
Annie said: “Occupational Therapists champion healthcare practices that contribute to empowering, person-centred and preventative models of care that are cost effective and environmentally sustainable.
“I have a passion for using green spaces to improve mental health and wellbeing and have championed the litter picking project which is run by the occupational therapy team in Cefn Coed Hospital's Gwelfor Ward.
“Litter picking is now being considered as a therapeutic intervention across a range of different services and disciplines, as well as part of staff wellbeing sessions.
“Sharing the litter picking project across different networks and outlets has allowed the idea to spread and scale across the UK.”
Weekly visits to Cae Felin Community Supported Agriculture - a project based on health board land near Morriston Hospital – has also provided a sustainable avenue for the recovery of patients.
Patients have helped grow crops, plant flowers and work together to maintain and develop the 7.6-acre site which is a haven for biodiversity.
Annie added: “The visits to Cae Felin have been really beneficial.
"The group started going there in January 2025 and it's received really positive feedback.
"Patients and staff enjoy both the wellbeing aspect of getting outdoors in nature as well as the opportunity to engage within meaningful activity, which also educates patients to think about food and their diet in a more sustainable way.
"An additional bonus is it provides patients with additional vocational skills should they want to volunteer or go in to paid work in the future."
Annie has shared her enthusiasm and knowledge around sustainable healthcare with her peers, and has set up a Sustainability Champions Network within Occupational Therapy alongside Laura Ingham, who is the Education, Research and Practice Development Lead within the service.
The network includes Occupational Therapy staff of all levels, as well as representation from Swansea University and the University of South Wales, who meet regularly to discuss and share ideas around sustainability and how it can be embedded further into their practice as a profession. Annie has also been collaboratively working with the universities around embedding sustainability into pre-registration Occupational Therapy education, which has potential for significant and lasting change for the Occupational Therapy workforce in south Wales.
Annie said: “The entire NHS is responsible for approximately five per cent of all UK environmental emissions. Climate change is happening in Wales and it affects us all. NHS Wales and social care is committed to the ambition for the public sector in Wales to be collectively net zero by 2030, so embedding sustainability into healthcare is paramount.
“That means we have to empower our workforce in Swansea Bay to embrace sustainable healthcare practices. As a service, Occupational Therapy has already started to become more sustainable as staff are becoming more aware of the ways in which we can deliver sustainable healthcare.
“Our Sustainability Champions Network supports our workforce to think and work more sustainably. It’s got off to a promising start and is gaining interest from both within the profession and amongst other Allied Health Professionals as word spreads about the potential contribution we can make through sustainable healthcare. A recent staff survey highlighted the positive impact it is already having, as well as understanding priority areas for the future.”
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