Dorothy House is proud to announce a new partnership with Forestry England, which offers patients receiving end of life care the opportunity to benefit from new 360 Virtual Reality Forest Bathing videos from the comfort of their own homes, in our Day Patient and Inpatient units.
An award winning VR project
Dorothy House is part of the Immersive Technology in Healthcare Team – an award winning Virtual Reality (VR) project, funded by the Masonic Charitable Foundation via Hospice UK and their ‘Re-imagining Day Patient Services’ funding programme.
The project trials the use of virtual reality to help reduce symptoms and improve relaxation in patients.
Using 360°cameras, the project team has been creating immersive videos that virtually transport patients outdoors.
Virtual forest bathing with Forestry England
Forestry England has kindly given permission for Dorothy House to upload 18 forest bathing videos to the 360 virtual reality platform. This means that patients visiting the Day Patient Unit, or receiving treatment in their homes and out in the community will be able to access the videos, even if they are unable to leave their beds.
“With a vast network of 1,500 woods and forests attracting hundreds of millions of visits annually, we understand the profound impact of nature on our wellbeing.
We also know that sometimes it’s not possible to visit a forest. That’s why we created our virtual forest wellbeing videos, allowing users to experience the benefits of forest bathing from anywhere. Whether you’re seeking a moment of calm or looking to support others on their wellness journey, our videos offer a transformative experience.
We’re proud to collaborate with Dorothy House Hospice Care, integrating our virtual forest bathing videos into their patient care programmes.” – Ellen Devine – Forestry England
You can watch some of the forest bathing videos by clicking here.
Wellbeing videos
Alongside Forestry England’s forest bathing offering, Dorothy House Hospice Care recently added five new videos to the virtual reality platform:
- A tour of Dorothy House Hospice Care and the grounds in Winsley
- A nature walk from Avoncliff to the Firefly Woods in the grounds of Winsley House
- A nature walk in Green Lane Woods – A Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve
- Paddleboarding relaxation along the river Avon
- Cornish beach relaxation
Virtual reality at Dorothy House
Marika Hills, Deputy Director of Patient & Family Services at Dorothy House and representatives of many multidisciplinary teams across the Hospice have been working on the service improvement project since 2021 alongside Dr. Darren Hart (Clinical Scientist) and other RUH colleagues.
“We always focus on what matters most to our patients, so offering a personal, accessible experience which can help to reduce pain and anxiety is really exciting.
This technology has a huge amount of scope, and we’re really keen to see how it can benefit not only our patients, but also be more broadly be applied to other areas of patient care.” – Marika Hills
We are currently using the virtual reality headsets successfully with patients experiencing pain and anxiety. To date, the technology has been available to all day patients, respite and blood transfusion patients. Results have been so successful that the Hospice is now widening the roll out to the Inpatient Unit and into the community.
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Dorothy House Hospice Care provides outstanding free palliative and end of life care to a population of over 550,000 people in Bath & North East Somerset, and parts of Somerset and Wiltshire.
We provide medical services, family support and personalised hospice at home care for around half of the people in our community who are approaching death. We are funded partly by the NHS, but predominantly by donations, our 25 shops, and fundraising efforts. For every £1 from the government, we have to work hard to raise another £4 to make sure that we can meet the growing need for our services.
To support us with our many fundraising efforts, please visit us online at dorothyhouse.org.uk or call us on 01225 721 480.
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