How a GP co-op is sowing the seeds of healthy eating | Anna Bawden
Despite the rain, Mary Coyne is helping Earline Hilda Castillo-Binger with the weeding. "See, Mary, these onions are coming up," says Castillo-Binger. "And the avocado plant is doing well." These women are not professionals, but are a new breed of gardeners who discovered their love of plants and getting their hands dirty from an unusual source: their local doctor's surgery.
The Lambeth GP Food Co-operative was launched in 2013 at Brockwell Park surgery, south London. With 160,000 in funding from the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and Lambeth council, 11 GP surgeries across the borough have turned unused outdoor space into gardens for patients to grow fruit and vegetables. GPs and nurses refer patients who are lonely and socially isolated, have a long-term condition and/or have mental health problems.
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