King's College Hospital Doctors and Nurses are creating a World-First Garden for Intensive Care Patients dependant on Life-Support Equipment.

Amongst planting, piped medical gasses with power and data points will support machinery, allowing us to provide life-support and simultaneously deliver a true "Dose of Nature."

Intensive Care Patients are the sickest in the hospital, often comatose, semiconscious and delirious. Many feel isolated, without control and deprived of natural light. It can be a terrifying experience for both patients and their families. This new garden will allow access to fresh air and natural light routinely, safely and much earlier in the course of their recovery, mirroring the latest evidence showing early rehabilitation improves patient outcomes and reduces risks of delirium.

In 1860, Florence Nightingale said, "Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, colour and light, we do know this, that they do have an actual physical effect." Her philosophy informed the design of Victorian Hospitals, including King's, resulting in large windows, balconies and gardens.

Sadly, with the introduction of artificial light and air conditioning, these precious green spaces have now been lost to building, due to the demands on the health care and pressures on urban space. King's used to have a bridge connecting the hospital to the park.

To bring back a therapeutic green space is a dream for the Intensive Care Team. Access to fresh air and natural light will provide a much-needed sense of normality, stimulation and reconnection with the outside world-all while still providing essential life-saving care.

We are very lucky to have Nigel Dunnett as part of the team, A multiple award winner at the RHS Flower Show who has designed remarkable gardens, including at the 2012 London Olympics.

We're halfway towards the Charity's appeal for £2.6m to help make these plans a reality. In loving memory of Charles Crawley.