At the IHI BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Oslo on Wednesday 11th March 2026, we shared the story of From Weeds to Watercress – a community-powered wellbeing movement that began at The Jubilee Street Practice in Tower Hamlets, one of London’s most diverse and economically challenged neighbourhoods.
What started as a simple idea, bringing people together around health, connection and nature, has grown into the Tower Network 9 Wellbeing Hub, a GP-led neighbourhood model tackling health inequalities through community, prevention and partnership.
Through walking groups, chronic pain workshops, gardening projects, and culturally tailored men’s and women’s programmes, patients and clinicians are co-designing solutions that move health beyond the consulting room and into the community.
These resources are shared in the spirit of open learning and global improvement, so that others can build on the work and adapt it to their own local populations.
Explore the downloadable resources from our World Café session and discover how communities, clinicians and local organisations can work together to grow healthier neighbourhoods – from the ground up.
By grounding programmes in quality improvement, local data and patient voice, the initiative continues to grow in ways that are measurable, sustainable and deeply human. Sometimes the most powerful health interventions don’t start with a prescription – they start with people, purpose and a patch of soil.
From Weeds to Watercress (841 x 594 mm).pdf