National Creative Health Associates Announced
The National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) is delighted to announce the appointment of the Creative Health Associates and Programme Manager for the Creative Health Associates Programme. Funded by Arts Council England, the programme is being delivered by seven Creative Health Associates hosted by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), one in each NHS region in England. They are supported by a Creative Health Programme Manager through peer support and leadership development.
Meet the team
- Programme Manager - Jayne Howard
- East of England - Olivia Dean
- London – Conni Rosewarne
- Midlands- Jane Hearst
- North East and Yorkshire - Alice Thwaite
- North West - Elaine Ryan- McNeill
- South West - Penny Calvert
- South East - Esther Watts
Discover more about the Creative Health Associates Team >>
The aim of the programme is to embed creative approaches and activities in health and care systems across the country and will include developing information exchange and connections between cultural practitioners and health professionals, spreading good practice and models for embedding creative health at a systems, place and neighbourhood level and the production of a Creative Health Maturity Framework for use in place-based working.
The Creative Health Associates programme represents an investment of £600,000 over 18 months by Arts Council England, one of the largest grants Arts Council has made to a creative health project. It will support the NCCH’s ambition to foster the conditions for creative health to be integral to health and care and demonstrate the power of culture and creativity to benefit the lives of individuals and communities and make a significant contribution to meeting the aims of Arts Council England’s Creative Health and Wellbeing plan by promoting creative health as a fundamental part of living well and by placing creativity at the heart of people’s lives, particularly those experiencing inequalities.
Tracey Bleakley, Chief Executive Officer of NHS Norfolk and Waveney, one of the ICB hosts says:
“We are very pleased that NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board is hosting one of seven Creative Health Associates and really excited to be part of this national programme.
“Our Creative Health Associate has already started working with our health inequalities team to explore ways creative health can improve health outcomes and experiences for our residents across Norfolk and Waveney. We are committed to exploring new and innovative ways of helping to strengthen prevention and think of new and innovative ways to help people lead longer, healthier and happier lives.”
Dr Paul Gilluley, Chief Medical Officer, NHS North East London, another ICB host, says:
“The North East London Integrated Care Board is delighted to be supporting the Creative Health Associates Programme. We look forward to our Creative Health Associate working with us in tackling health inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of our communities.”
Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England says:
“There’s growing evidence of the positive benefits for patients when health and arts professionals work together. We want to increase the impact of the work being done in this important area, making tangible improvements to the quality of people’s lives across the country. This newly appointed team will help that to happen more often, for more people, in more places.”
More details of the programme can be found here >>
Creative Health Associates Programme Media Release >>