We are excited to see the launch of Scotland’s Green Health Framework today. We have really enjoyed being part of the collaborative process of bringing this Framework to fruition, and were particularly keen to ensure that the importance of the roles of social prescribing and the third sector were reflected in the final Framework.
We are really pleased to see that one of the Framework’s pillars is ‘Greenspace for Social Prescribing.’ It is so important that greenspace is used and valued for green prescribing, offering formal, supported opportunities for people to know about and benefit from connections to nature and their environment. Community Link Workers and social prescribers are vital to ensuring that people, wherever they live in Scotland, reap these benefits. Community Link Workers are also crucial to ensuring that the benefits of greenspace are understood and integrated into practice.
We also welcome the reference in Pillars 2 and 3, Greenspace for Nature Connection and Greenspace for Everyone, of the need to address inequalities in accessing greenspaces. As a movement for health creation, we work to reduce health inequalities and enable the people of Scotland to live well. The people who experience difficulties accessing greenspaces, including those in more deprived communities and those with disabilities, are also the people most likely to experience health inequalities. It is so important that the benefits of greenspaces for creating health are available for those who are likely to benefit most.
Third sector organisations, many of which are VHS members, will have a key role in implementing this Framework, particularly in ensuring that greenspaces are inclusive, accessible, and that the benefits are understood and integrated. It is therefore vital that efforts are taken to ensure that third sector partners involved in the delivery of this framework are recognised as equal partners and are sustainably funded.
