Schoolchildren helped plant new trees around a hospital as part of national NHS campaign.

Pupils from Mount Stewart Primary School, Harrow, planted two goat willow, two hawthorn, two rowan and two elderberry trees outside the entrance to the maternity unit at Northwick Park Hospital.

The planting was part of the national NHS Forest campaign, run by the Centre for Sustainable Health, and aims to plant 1.3 million trees, one for every NHS employee, at sites all over the country.

Radiographer and sustainability champion Charles Hurford said: “The event is just the first of many events taking place at the hospital next week to continue to promote sustainable healthcare.

“Last summer pupils from Mount Stewart Primary School created posters to raise awareness and money for the trees which have been specifically chosen because they are natural bird feeders, flowering in the spring to attract insects and producing fruit in the late summer.”