Garden 'helps patients to feel at home'

17:30 8th April 2008

A new garden outside Coventry University Hospital helps the sick feel more at home, according to one former patient.

The £3,000 courtyard garden was created to celebrate 18th anniversary of the hospital's centre for reproductive medicine, reports the Coventry Telegraph.

For decades, the unit has carried out thousands of treatments, including 7,000 cycles of IVF and infertility treatment.

Former patient Sharon Peake told the newspaper: "When you first come to the hospital for treatment you are always apprehensive and it can be very daunting.

"The courtyard helps to make you feel more at home."

Meanwhile, a garden outside South Tyneside District Hospital that is dedicated to a famous local author has been augmented with a bench that honours a former nurse.

The Dame Catherine Cookson Memorial Garden, which opened in 2001 and features a 40 metre-long water channel, has also been brightened up thanks to gardening efforts installing some new plants that will be growing throughout the summer, according to the Shields Gazette.