Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so how, they will maintain the use of (1) handicrafts, and (2) gardening as occupational therapy interventions for patients recovering from treatment in NHS England hospitals.

Therapeutic interventions and group programmes for rehabilitation are expected features of rehabilitation for both mental health and physical conditions – handicrafts, as a therapeutic intervention to improve fine coordination, and gardening, and other patient appropriate activity, are recommended by both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

Although the two interventions are not specifically held above others in recovery, handicrafts and gardening are commonly used in therapeutic programmes funded by the National Health Service.