Accessibility
We hope you’ll find the Paintings in Hospitals website easy to use. We’re committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.
We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website. We endeavour to conform to level Double-A of the World Wide Web Consortium W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities and help to make the web more user-friendly for everyone.
“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
Whilst we strive to adhere to these guidelines and standards, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility.
In the meantime should you experience any difficulty in accessing our website, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Where possible use an up-to-date browser
By using an up-to-date browser (the program you use to access the internet) you will have access to a much richer set of options to aid you as you navigate your way around this site.
The standard browsers we would recommend are below with links to install each of them:
Once installed, each will bring its own selection of accessibility options and may allow further options via the use of plug-ins. For more details see the Accessibility page for each one:
Options in our site
Alternative Style
Please choose a link below to change the way the site looks. Once set, the site will remain in this style for up to 30 days or until you select a different option.
We endeavour to ensure the site looks correct is these different styles but because of the constantly changing nature of the site and its content, this may not always be possible. If you do spot anything which doesn’t look quite right, then please let us know
Keyboard Short Cuts / Access Keys
Different browsers use different keystrokes to activate access key shortcuts, as shown below:
| Browser | Page | Shortcut | |
| Windows | Firefox or Chrome | Home | Shift + Alt + 1 |
| Skip navigation menu | Shift + Alt + 2 | ||
| Internet Explorer or Edge | Home | Alt + 1 | |
| Skip navigation menu | Alt + 2 | ||
| NOTE: For Internet Explorer, you will need to press Enter after using the shortcut | |||
| Safari | Home | Ctrl + Alt + 1 | |
| Skip navigation menu | Ctrl + Alt + 2 | ||
| MacOS | Safari | Home | Command + Alt + 1 |
| Skip navigation menu | Command + Alt + 2 | ||
| Firefox or Chrome | Home | Command + Shift + 1 | |
| Skip navigation menu | Command + Shift + 2 | ||
Options in your browser
Most modern browsers all share the most common accessibility tools, here is a list of useful features:
Incremental Search
Incremental search allows you to progressively search a web page for a particular word or phrase on a page. To enable this on your browser, press and hold Ctrl/Command and then tap F. This will open a box to type your search into. As you type, the matches will be highlighted on the page for you.
Spatial Navigation
Hitting tab will jump you to each of the items you can interact with on any page. Holding the SHIFT key and then pressing tab will take you to the previous item.
Caret Navigation (Internet Explorer and Firefox only)
Instead of using a mouse to select text and move around within a webpage, you can use standard navigation keys on your keyboard: Home, End, Page Up, Page Down & the arrow keys. This feature is named after the caret, or cursor, that appears when you edit a document.
To turn this feature on, press the F7 key at the top of your keyboard and choose whether to enable the caret on the tab you are viewing or all your tabs.
Spacebar
Pressing the space bar on a web page will move the page you are viewing down to the next visible part of the page.
Text fonts
Depending on your browser, you can override all fonts on the site to one that is easier for you to read. Options can be found in your browser’s settings/preferences.
Enlarge your view
You can activate the browser zoom via these keyboard shortcuts
Options on your computer
To zoom your entire computer screen
Apple Mac and Windows operating system both contain options to enlarge your view of your screen:
Make your computer read the site aloud
This website has been built with screen readers in mind. Menus, pictures and inputs will have the correct tags and mark up to compliment your chosen screen reader.
We have tested with the following tools:
NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free screen reader for computers running on the Windows operating system. The latest version can be downloaded for FREE here (on this page you may be asked for a voluntary donation, if you do not wish to donate, click “skip donation this time”)
Microsoft Windows Narrator is available in most versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems and reads text on the screen aloud and describes events like error messages so you can use your PC without a display. To find out more and how to enable it on your version, please click here
Control your computer with your voice
Apple Mac and Windows operating systems both provide ways to control your computer with voice recognition:
Third-party voice recognition software is available too.
Languages and translation
We aim to make our web content easy to understand and strive to use ‘plain English’ wherever possible.
We are unable to provide manual translations of our web content but our website can be translated into various browsing languages, including Welsh, using the Google Chrome browser or Google Translate tools. Visit Google Chrome help pages to configure your browser for translation.
Documents
We aim to ensure that all documents on the Paintings in Hospitals website are as accessible as possible. All of the documents we provide online are in Microsoft Word and/or PDF formats. Most systems will come with programs to open these files.
You can find out more about how to configure the free Adobe Reader software to obtain greater access to PDF files by visiting the Adobe site.
If you are having problems accessing a particular document, please contact us.
We want everyone to be able to be inspired by and benefit from our work. If you have any suggestions for how we might improve our accessibility, let us know.
paintings in hospitals
Welcome to Paintings in Hospitals. We provide art for a range of health and community care providers to enhance environments and boost wellbeing. We represent a range of national artists and have an online shop so that you can also experience the power of art and its effect on people.
PAINTINGS IN HOSPITALS TO BE INCORPORATED INTO LEADING NHS CHARITY
Paintings in Hospitals (PiH), which has been lending original pieces of visual art to health and care providers for over 65 years, is transferring its renowned art collection and merging with CW+, the official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
PiH was founded by Sheridan Russell in 1959. His job was to help distribute aid and support to patients being treated in hospitals. He noticed that when he put original pieces of art on the wall, it helped everyone to feel better. His founding vision for PiH was that all patients in hospitals, their families, visitors and staff, could benefit from experiencing original pieces of art. Now with nationwide reach, the PiH collection has grown to over 3,000 artworks by more than 1,000 artists. Many are very well known, including Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley, Maggi Hambling, Yinka Shonibare, Helen Chadwick, Elizabeth Blackadder, Josef Albers, Anni Albers, Gillian Ayres, Ben Rivers, Alexander Calder, Elisabeth Frink and Ian Davenport. The charity’s artist patrons include Ian Davenport, Sir Antony Gormley OBE, Maggi Hambling CBE, Anita Klein and Bridget Riley CH CBE.
For over 30 years, CW+ has worked alongside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to create a new type of hospital setting in which art is an integral element of the healing environment. The charity benefits from an established network of patrons, artists and healthcare providers, and has a pioneering Arts in Health programme that builds on the robust body of evidence that outstanding design and engagement with the arts can improve physical and mental wellbeing. The charity’s renowned collection of more than 2,000 artworks is primarily displayed at its two main sites – Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital.
The Chair of PiH, Professor Jane Anderson, said: ‘The visionary work PiH started 65 years ago as an outlier is now mainstream. Creative health – the idea that we pioneered – evidences the physical and mental health benefits of exposure to beautiful and inspiring art. Our founder’s innovative approach has since been solidly confirmed by evidence-based science, and the beneficial impact of creative health is now accepted by hospital administrators, funders and legislators.
'And so, to fulfil our mission to bring great art to patients, families and those caring for them, we are transferring our collection to CW+, a leading charity embedded within the NHS, with a long history in the creative health field.
'We share values and a passionate commitment to promoting and furthering the profound benefits of original art in health and care settings. With our combined sector experience of almost 100 years, we welcome this new era for the Paintings in Hospitals collection and are confident that CW+ will add significant value to the Paintings in Hospitals legacy.’
Current loans will remain where they are and CW+ will announce plans for the future of the Paintings in Hospitals collection in 2026.
Chris Chaney, Chief Executive of CW+, said: ‘We are excited to be merging with Paintings in Hospitals, whose work over the last six decades has had such a profound impact on countless people across the UK. We know from over 30 years of experience that visual art can play a hugely positive role on wellbeing and recovery, and we are committed to the long-standing shared vision of the two organisations that art be made available to as many people as possible in healthcare settings.’
For any questions regarding the collection or loans, please email arts@cwplus.org.uk.
29 July 2025
About our collection
Our art collection is the only national arts in health collection. Over 1,000 artists are represented, including Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley, Maggi Hambling, Yinka Shonibare, Gillian Ayres, Ian Davenport and many more and many more.
Paintings in Hospitals makes it easy for health and community care services to benefit from our art.
Our shop
Browse our collection of items by some of the UK's leading artists and designers here on our website or visit the Paintings in Hospitals online Shop.