An interim assessment of NHS Scotland Greenspace

About this release

This report provides information on the amount of greenspace contained within the NHS estate in Scotland as of September 2024. Details of planned developments are included in the accompanying report, these include further work to complete data quality assurance.

Main points

• The size of the NHS estate in Scotland is 1,572 hectares. Almost the size of the city of Stirling.
• The land within the NHS estate that consists of trees, grass/scrubland and agricultural land is classified as 'greenspace'.
• Based on the data received to date, we estimate that just over half (52%, 825 hectares) of the total NHSScotland estate is greenspace, almost twice the size of Loch Lomond Nature Reserve (430 hectares).
• More than 50% of NHSScotland greenspace is within just four territorial health boards.
• Seven health boards have greenspace coverage that exceeds 50% of their total estate.
• There are only four health boards where greenspace cover is less than a third of the total estate. Even for the health board with the lowest percentage, greenspace still comprises over one quarter of its estate.

Background

This report from Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents data on the amount of greenspace contained within the estate as a whole and at individual health board level. The data presented has been prepared by the PHS Geographic Information Systems (GIS) team and is based on information returned by NHSScotland boards as of September 2024. Data outlined in the report is still being refined and is subject to change due to outstanding quality assurance checks for some NHS Boards at time of publication. As the majority of boards' data has been validated, we estimate that the impact of further changes is likely to be limited for the total greenspace estimates for Scotland but will be greater for the individual boards affected.

This is the first time the extent of greenspace within the NHSScotland estate has been mapped and provides a baseline for analysis of future trends in NHSScotland greenspace use and management.

Further information

The next release of this publication is to be confirmed.