New name for palliative care garden at Fife hospital as it opens to all

Since its establishment in 2018, the garden has provided a picturesque and peaceful outdoor space for all seasons where patients with palliative care needs could spend time with relatives and friends.

With the support of a number of local businesses and a significant grant of £42,000 from the Fife Health Charity, a small but hugely dedicated committee of volunteers set out to transform the previously unused courtyard into a bespoke therapeutic garden that patients, their friends, relatives and families can sit in, and take some time out in what can be a hugely difficult time in their lives.

In addition to being home to a wide array of plants and flowers in a multitude of colours, sizes and shapes, the greenery one can expect from a garden is also evident throughout offering several semi-private seating areas many of which are decorated with carvings and sculptures to break the space up.

The garden has also been designed with patients at its heart, with specially widened pathways to enable those who may be unsteady on their feet, in wheelchairs and even hospital beds, still able to make full use of the much-valued facility.

Some five years after it was first opened back in 2018, the impressive garden continues to be developed and maintained by the group as a welcoming space which is and has been used by many people over the years.

With palliative care provision in Fife transforming in recent years to provide a greater balance of care within Fife’s communities, the committee of volunteers have agreed to change the name of the garden to ‘The Haven’ and for the first time will make the facility available to all patients, visitors and staff at the hospital.

To coincide with the renaming of the garden, the group have also officially become the Queen Margaret Haven Garden Group.

The volunteer group was first established by Dalgety Bay resident Anne Morton, who wanted to help those in Fife who were nearing the end of their lives, along with their loved ones.

Anne, who still remains the chair of the charity volunteer group, said: “When we set up the garden committee originally, we wanted to do all we could make the lives of patients and their families just that little bit easier. Through the work of our volunteers and with the support of local businesses across the Kingdom, I really think we have been able to achieve that.

“With the way that palliative care has evolved in recent years within the NHS, our committee was approached about opening the garden up and making it available to all of those visiting the hospital.

“As a committee, we were more than happy to support this request and to enable such an outdoor space, surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers, to benefit the health and wellbeing of many more staff, patients, families and visitors alike. The space also contains two shelters which were designed to be large enough for a bed to fit under so nobody was left out – it’s a space for everyone to benefit from.”

The Fife Health and Social care Partnership’s Head of Community Care Services, Lynne Garvey, said: “The Queen Margaret Haven Garden Group do some invaluable and incredible work, with the volunteers committing a huge deal of their own time, effort and expertise to provide such a valuable resource for our patients and carers.

“While the way that palliative care is provided in Fife has changed in recent years, there continues to be very many patients cared for at Queen Margaret Hospital in the last days, weeks and months of their lives.

"We were especially keen therefore that the wonderful garden space could continue to be enjoyed by patients with palliative care needs and their families.

"We are delighted to see this fantastic space now also being made available to all of those visiting Queen Margaret Hospital.

“We would like to give our thanks to the group for their continued support, and to the many individuals and businesses who have supported them in their endeavours to help create and maintain such a fantastic vibrant yet peaceful outdoor space for patients and their relatives.”

You can follow the work of the Queen Margaret Haven Garden Group on their dedicated Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/TheHavenatQueenMargaretHospital.

Alternatively, if you feel you can spare a few hours as a volunteer for the group, then why not contact them via their Facebook page Messenger service. It’s a cause very worthy of your time and energy.

The garden can be accessed through Phase 2 Main Entrance at Queen Margaret Hospital, the courtyard is near to X-ray, on level 1.