About Enhancing the Healing Environment
Our award-winning Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme encourages and enables local multi-disciplinary teams to work in partnership with service users to improve the environment where care is delivered.
Putting patients at the heart of design, the programme challenges current thinking and attitudes to the delivery of care, as well as highlighting the important role that the physical environment can play in supporting innovation in service delivery and in improving the patient experience.
Areas of work
Launched by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2000, the programme initially focused on improving the acute hospital environment in London. The programme's success led to its extension to mental health trusts and a number of primary care trusts in the capital. The latest phases include work to improve environments for care at the end of life and improve the environment of care for people with dementia. We are also working with colleagues in the prisons service to improve the environment and delivery of health care to prisoners. Read more about current EHE projects and completed projects.
Programme success
Forty-eight London NHS trusts have now taken part in EHE, and the programme is the single largest investment (more than £2.25 million) that The King's Fund has made in London's hospitals. To date more than 230 teams from acute, mental health and community hospitals, hospices and HM prisons have participated in the programme.
Recognition for the programme
The programme has received widespread recognition as a national exemplar both in terms of the individual projects and for acting as a catalyst for the NHS to consider the impact of the environment on recovery and the way care is delivered.
Find out more about the awards we've won for our Enhancing the Healing Environment work.
