How North Yorkshire’s Natural Health Service helps wellbeing

WHEN people think of our county, what do they think about? For many people, it will be the moors and the dales. The purple heather, rolling hills and mile after mile of dry-stone walls. Being among not only our county’s greatest asset, but our country’s, invokes a feeling that only pure, fresh Yorkshire air in your lungs can.

In meetings with my team, or with companies looking to work in our region, I often say that our geography is our greatest challenge. Unlike most mayoral areas, our county is sparsely populated, with mile after mile of open green space. In pure economic terms, that means the way mayors have always done things will not work here.

We have to play to what we have, whether that is backing our micro, small and medium-sized businesses, or investing in communities to give them the spaces they need to bring people together.

Last week, I launched what I think is going to be the single best example of using the make-up of our region to benefit both our residents and our communities.

Our Natural Health Service for North Yorkshire is doing just that. It is the UK’s first protected landscape-led programme of its kind. Led by the North York Moors Trust, the project is bringing together both national parks and two of our national landscapes for the first time.

Working alongside health services and our communities, it aims to do something simple yet radical: use nature as a way of treating and caring for people.

After a short pilot, I can say with real confidence that it works. Not in theory, but in real life. Over the ten-week trial, research by York St John University found that mental wellbeing increased by 24 per cent, social wellbeing by 17.5 per cent, physical wellbeing by 13.5 per cent, and loneliness fell by 15per cent.

And this is more important than ever because recent statistics from the Health Foundation have shown that healthy life expectancy has fallen across North Yorkshire: down 1.9 years for men and 2.3 years for women. While people are living longer, the amount of time they spend in good health is declining.

That is unacceptable, and it is why we need to see greater investment in prevention across our health service. That is something I have been passionate about and have directed funding towards in our police service and in many of the projects we have supported since I became Mayor.

Investing now not only saves money in the future, but also makes people’s lives healthier and more fulfilling as we live longer.

That is what this is all about to me: people. In a county like North Yorkshire, where many of our residents are objectively prosperous and live in good health, those who do not too often get overlooked for funding and intervention.

Too many people who struggle, or need a helping hand, have been overlooked for too long. That stings even more when you live a mile away from some of Britain’s wealthiest communities.

That is what our Natural Health Service is seeking to address: bringing nature closer to people through supported and guided time outdoors.

It is the people involved who make this so compelling. One participant from Catterick said: “January is just a really bad month. So for me personally, it starting then and having that positive thing to come and do was really, massively helpful for my brain and my emotions.”

Those groups have stayed in touch, with another participant from Catterick saying: “It’s just what we do on a Tuesday now.”

It is not just the obvious health and wellbeing benefits either. Someone from the York Carers Centre group said: “I’m even thinking that it might be the right time to think about doing a few hours of employment, which I’ve not participated in for 20 years.”

The trial has proven to be a great example of how we can achieve results when we think outside the box and do things differently. It is a credit to the team at North York Moors Trust and all the partners involved.

That is why the opportunity to continue this project could not be missed. Last week, I was really pleased to commit additional funding for our Natural Health Service to run for the rest of my mayoral term.

We know it works. We have seen it, we have heard it, and we cannot and should not ignore it. This investment means more people reached and more lives changed.

And if the results continue in the same direction, which I am sure they will, I know this can be a ‘greenprint’ for the rest of the country to adopt.

These are Yorkshire solutions to Westminster’s problems, and I cannot wait to see how the over 1,500 participants get on in the next eighteen months.