NCCH has a new Chair of Trustees as Lord Howarth of Newport becomes Honorary President
The Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport CBE stands down as founding Chair of the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) to become President of the organisation. The new Chair of NCCH is Professor Martin Marshall CBE, former Chair of the Royal College of GPs and current Chair of the Nuffield Trust.
Lord Howarth formed the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, in 2014 and chaired the 2015-2017 national inquiry which resulted in the report: Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing. The recommendations led to the establishment of the NCCH as a charity in 2020 and the public launch of the organisation in March 2021. In its first three years, the NCCH has made significant progress in fulfilling its mission to advance good practice and research, inform policy and promote collaboration, helping foster the conditions for creative health to be integral to health and social care and wider systems.
The Creative Health Review, How Policy Can Embrace Creative Health, published in December 2023, was led by the NCCH with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing and was informed by a panel of distinguished Commissioners who included Professor Marshall. Martin was Chair of the Royal College of GPs from 2019-2022, was a GP for over 30 years and is Emeritus Professor of Healthcare Improvement at UCL. He was formerly Director of Research and Development at the Health Foundation and Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England and Director General in the Department of Health.
Alan Howarth says: “Martin will bring extremely valuable knowledge and strategic insight into the current health context as the organisation pursues its ambition to see creative health embedded in systems. We are very pleased that Martin has agreed to take up this position as we look towards the future of the organisation and what we can achieve over the next decade in establishing creative health as an integral part of a 21st century health and care system, one which is holistic and person-centred.”
Martin Marshall says: “I am delighted to be joining the NCCH following Alan’s distinguished tenure as the inaugural Chair. It is a significant time for the organisation as we see a growing recognition of the value of non-clinical interventions in supporting people to live longer healthier and happier lives and with the need to focus on prevention and to tackle the growing challenge of health inequalities. The research evidence supporting investment in creative health activities is strong and growing. Our challenge is now to ensure that this evidence influences policy and practice.”
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