NHS staff being trained to use outdoors for treating patients

Healthcare professionals are being trained to use nature in treating people with poor mental health, it has been announced.

Natural England said it was funding courses so NHS staff from across Sussex could learn how to work in outdoor settings.

It comes as less than half the population say they've been to the countryside or a local park recently, according to government statistics, external.

"The importance of open spaces cannot be underestimated," said Sarah Davies, Natural England's principal adviser for partnerships in Sussex and Kent.