Naviation

The National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPG AHW) Creative Health Review Report notes:

We have seen the strengthening body of evidence supporting creative health, and the benefits it has had for individuals, communities and systems when applied to address challenging topics in relation to health, social care and inequalities. We must now look at how to spread, scale and support this work, to ensure that it is available equitably across the country, and applied more widely in order to maximise its potential.

There has been increasing interest from policymakers internationally in the role of creativity and culture in supporting health and wellbeing and tackling health inequalities. Following the publication of the WHO scoping review ‘What is the role of the arts in improving health and wellbeing? ’ in 2019, the WHO’s Regional Office for Europe recognised the potential of the arts to tackle complex health challenges and contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It recommends that governments take an intersectoral approach to realise this potential. Meanwhile, the European Commission-funded Culture for Health programme is a multi-partner project investigating the role of culture and the arts in improving wellbeing, with the aim of influencing EU policy across health, culture and social policy. A recent scoping review of global policy documents looked at how policymakers are exploring the relationship between arts and health and found that ‘the most promising and concrete commitments are happening when health and arts ministries or agencies work together on policy development’.

Existing examples include Australia and USA at federal levels, and nationally in Greece, Finland and Ireland. One of the most concrete commitments to arts and health in policy was found to be in Wales, where a strong partnership has been established between the Welsh NHS Confederation and the Arts Council of Wales. Leadership at all levels of the system is required to establish a thriving creative health sector. In this section we will explore examples of where this is emerging and consider what more could be done at national level to enable more widespread implementation of creative health.

Download the Implementing Creative Health chapter here >>

Read the full Creative Health Review Report here >>

The Implementing Creative Health chapter is spilt into three sections:

Each of these are connected to a themed roundtable and creative response.

Explore our case studies related to these themes:

Further information about the Creative Health Review

The Creative Health Review highlights the potential for creative health to help tackle pressing issues in health and social care and more widely, including health inequalities The Review has gathered evidence that shows the benefits of creative health in relation to major current challenges, and examples of where this is already working in practice.

Find out more about the Creative Health Review >>

Photo Credit: University of Chester Creative Health Movement ©
Photo Credit: University of Chester Creative Health Movement ©
Implementing Creative Health Banner


Creative Responses

The Review commissioned a range of artists with their own lived experience to respond creatively to each of the Review's roundtable themes.

Creative Health Review Roundtables

Central to the Review were a series of eight themed roundtables that were held between Autumn 2022 and Summer 2023. The Review has translated the findings from these Roundtable themes together with contributions into recommendations for policymakers to encourage and inform the development of a cross-governmental creative health strategy, which will support creative health to flourish and maximise its potential across key policy areas.

Three themes related to implementing creative health:

  • Cost-effectiveness, Evidencing Value for Money & Funding Models

It is important that we can explain and justify investment in creative health. This may require the development of new ways to measure cost-effectiveness and social value. This theme looked at how we demonstrate the value of creative health. We also considered sustainable funding and commissioning models for the sector.

Roundtable recording >>

Roundtable summary & overview >>

Creative Response - David Tovey responded to the theme Cost-effectiveness, Evidencing Value for Money & Funding Models. “For me it saved my life. Arts gave me that access to see the world differently and for the world to see me differently.

Explore David’s Creative Response >>

  • Leadership and Strategy - Embedding Creative Health in Integrated Care Systems

Work is already underway to integrate creative health into health systems and across local authorities. Building on this, we identified best practice for embedding creative health and considered how this can be further supported by national policy.

Roundtable recording >>

Roundtable summary & overview >>

Creative Response - Surfing Sofas responded to Leadership and Strategy - Embedding Creative Health in Integrated Care Systems. Surfing Sofas created a live performance during our roundtable which celebrated Creativity and Wellbeing Week (15th - 21st May 2023). The live performance also responded to the Creativity and Wellbeing Week provocation ‘What is the role of creativity in a health crisis?’.

Explore Surfing Sofas Creative Response >>

  • Creative health - workforce development and wellbeing

In order to fully embed creative health into health and social care and wider systems, it will be necessary to nurture a skilled workforce and a health and social care sector that fully understands the benefits of creativity. This roundtable identified existing opportunities for education, training and workforce development in creative health, and considered how skilled creative health practitioners can be best utilised in the delivery of health and social care. We also considered how creativity can support the health and wellbeing of the workforce.

Roundtable recording>>

Roundtable summary & overview >>

Listen to the lived-experience speech extract from this roundtable:

Laura Waters, Air Arts, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust - Workforce wellbeing in the NHS >>

This session was one of two roundtables on the theme of Education and Training. Find out more about our second education roundtable & creative response on the theme of 'Creativity for Health and Wellbeing in the Education System' HERE >>