Creative Health Policy: Where are we now and where next?
Creative Health is increasingly being recognised as an important contributor to health, wellbeing and prevention, with growing visibility across local, regional and national policy discussions. But how far has creative health become embedded within policy, what does the evidence tell us about its role, and what needs to happen next?
These questions formed the focus of a recent webinar delivered jointly by Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities, the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) and the ReCITE project. The webinar explored how creative health is being reflected in policy across the UK and what is needed to embed it more fully within health and care systems.
A growing presence in policy
Jayne Howard, head of programmes at NCCH, presented findings from NCCH’s policy mapping work, reflecting on the significant growth of creative health policy activity across England. She described how creative health is increasingly appearing in local and regional strategies, including integrated care system plans, public health strategies, cultural strategies and health inequalities work.
While only a few years ago creative health was often represented through individual projects and programmes, Jayne argued that many areas are now beginning to take a more strategic approach, bringing together health, local government, cultural organisations and community partners around shared priorities.
This growth has not been driven through a single policy route, in some areas, creative health has gained traction through culture-led strategies, while elsewhere it has emerged through public health priorities, social prescribing initiatives or broader work on community wellbeing. The result is a diverse but increasingly connected policy landscape in which creative health is becoming recognised as a contributor to population health and prevention.
Aligning with national priorities
Picking up the theme of system change, Alex Coulter, Director of NCCH, explored how creative health aligns with current national priorities. Although creative health is not explicitly named within major policy documents, Alex suggested that it can contribute to many of the government and NHS agendas currently shaping health and care reform.
In particular, Alex highlighted the growing emphasis on prevention, community-based support and neighbourhood health. As health systems seek to move from treating illness to supporting prevention, creative health approaches offer practical ways of building social connection, supporting mental health and engaging communities. The challenge, she suggested, is ensuring that creative health is recognised not as a separate area of work, but as a means of delivering wider health and care outcomes.
This point was reinforced by Farha Quadri, from the joint NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care Strategy Team, who argued that advocates for creative health should continue to connect their work to the national priorities that policymakers are already focused on and are outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan for England. Rather than positioning creative health as something additional, she suggested that it should be presented as part of the solution to existing challenges, including health inequalities, prevention and engagement with communities.
What does the evidence tell us?
The webinar also provided an opportunity to hear emerging findings from the ReCITE research project. Dawn Holford, Co-PI of ReCITE, shared insights from an analysis of creative health policy documents across the UK, offering a broader perspective on how creative health is currently being represented and discussed in policy.
Dawn explained that creative health most frequently appears within cultural policy, but noted that some of the strongest examples of embedded practice were found in policies where health and public health organisations had taken a leading role. Her team’s analysis identified several recurring themes across policies, including the importance of cross-sector collaboration, an ambition to deliver creative health through community co-production and the evidence on what outcomes—for individuals, communities, and populations—creative health can benefit.
At the same time, the research highlighted ongoing challenges. Questions remain about how to achieve better connection across sectors and harnessing the relative strengths of each. This is important for identifying the right leadership for creative health delivery, securing sustainable funding, evaluating programmes, and sharing power with local communities.
Looking ahead
Taken together, the presentations suggested that creative health has reached an important moment in its development. Recognition within policy is growing, evidence is accumulating, and examples of effective partnership working are emerging across the UK. The next step, however, is ensuring that creative health becomes embedded within the structures, relationships and decision-making processes that shape health and care systems at local, regional and national levels.
You can watch the webinar recording here:
