A Dragons' Den style bid to raise funds for a rehabilitation garden at Tameside Hospital has resulted in the first phase of the project now complete.

Vicky Watson and the team at the 96-bed Stamford Unit, which looks after dementia patients, the long-term ill and some people who have just had surgery, pitched for the money before senior managers at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust.

They were awarded £10,000 to begin to create a sensory rehabilitation garden which majored on the five senses of sound, taste, touch, smell and vision.

Vicky, a technical therapy instructor and the driving force behind the project, says her long-term plan for the garden is to make it all-weather and accessible for everyone with paths, bannisters, a canopy and a gazebo, and seating areas and heaters for when the weather turns wet and cold.

She explained: “Our ideas are ambitious, but will make such a difference to our patients and their families and carers.

“To create sound we will have musical instruments and a pond or a water feature. For touch and movement we plan an outdoor gym and different textures through the paving and plants and shrubs.

“Taste will include planters for herbs and a greenhouse for the patients to grow their own fruit and vegetables. There will be lots of different scented plants, trees, and shrubs to attract bees, butterflies, birds, and squirrels.

“We plan to make it great to look at with lots of colour, stain glass walls facing the sun, wind charms, sundial, seating areas and lights.”

Trust Chief Executive Karen James OBE said that nature-based time outdoors has become more relevant than ever since the Covid pandemic, particularly for a range of mental health and behavioural disorders such as dementia, depression, PTSD and for those people needing terminal care.

She explained: “Being outdoors has been shown to lower stress, blood pressure and heart rate, while increasing mood and improving mental health.

“We all know from our own experiences that spending time outside - especially in green spaces - is one of the fastest ways to boost health and happiness. Experts tell us it anchors us in the present moment and helps us to feel connected, grounded and a part of something much bigger than ourselves.

“This sensory garden will be of enormous benefit to the patients and their families, not just on the Stamford Unit, but to other parts of the Trust and for staff too who will also get enjoyment and well-being from this wonderful new facility. I applaud Vicky and the team for making this happen.”

Vicky, who is 34 and lives with her partner in Oldham, only joined the Trust a year ago and says she has been delighted by the support and encouragement she’s been given.

“I have been a carer since I was 12 for my disabled mum, so I know first-hand the importance of green, open spaces to people who, through their disability or illness, struggle to be able to connect with nature. The challenge now is to complete the garden and I am confident we will do it,” she said.

The project has the support of the staff at NatWest Bank in Ashton, and family, friends and other Trust colleagues have offered to help Vicky raise the £20k needed to complete the garden.

With this in mind an open afternoon is planned for Wednesday 13 July at 3pm so that the team can showcase what has been achieved so far and encourage potential investors by sharing the expertise of the unit’s clinical team on how the garden will further benefit the lives of patients.