Why art matters
Why creative health matters
Art helps keep us well. It can aid our recovery from illness and support us to live longer, better lives.
From waiting rooms to wards, surroundings have an impact on the way we think and feel. Art can transform stark clinical environments into compassionate care spaces filled with inspiration.
In December 2023, The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Health and Wellbeing and the National Centre for Creative Health published the Creative Health Review. Key messages from the review were that creative health is fundamental to a healthy and prosperous society and that it should be an integral part of a 21st century health and social care system – one that is holistic, person-centred, and which focusses on reducing inequalities and supporting people to live well for longer.
“A painting in A&E takes me to a different place. I thought you should know that your work not only helps the ill get better, it helps the well stay well.”
Police officer, Glan Clwyd Hospital, Wales
Key research has shown that:
- Art eases anxiety, stress and depression for both patients and care staff
- Art shortens patients’ length of stay in hospital
- Art reduces patients’ need for painkilling medication
- Art increases carer morale
- Art improves communication between patients and carers
- Art improves the overall experience of the care environment.
We think everyone should have the opportunity to experience these benefits. That’s why we’re dedicated to bringing art to everyone through our artwork loans and art activities.
Find out more about the difference Paintings in Hospitals makes…
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 – THE NEXT CHAPTER
Paintings in Hospitals (PiH) joined with CW+ in July 2025, bringing together two organisations with long histories of improving health and wellbeing through art. Since the merger, we have been reviewing the PiH collection and shaping plans for its future within a new national context, to ensure it continues to benefit patients, staff and communities for many years to come.
Over the past year we have carried out a detailed review of the collection, its reach and its potential to support the health priorities facing communities today. This work has informed a new strategy, endorsed and supported by NHS England and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), which outlines the development of a broader national programme called NHS Arts.
For the first phase we will be partnering with the Government Art Collection (GAC) as part of its Art Works Everywhere programme. Through this partnership, more than 1,000 artworks from the PiH and GAC collections will be loaned free of charge to NHS hospitals for five years, offering immediate benefits to care environments and providing a strong national platform for the role of art in health.
Alongside the development of NHS Arts, we have maintained PiH’s loans programme, and will continue to do so. There are currently 1,290 works in 72 hospitals, bringing great art to patients, families and those caring for them, and ensuring that PiH’s important legacy continues.
Looking ahead, NHS Arts aims to build a consistent creative health infrastructure across England, embedding high-quality artworks and community-led creative activity in hospitals and healthcare settings. Initial activity will focus on areas with limited access to arts provision, or where stronger community-health relationships have the potential to make the greatest difference.
Participating arts, cultural and community organisations will also benefit from valuable national exposure through their involvement in NHS Arts and the wider creative health ecosystem, with opportunities to contribute to creative programming, community engagement and codesigned activity linked to local health priorities.
The ambition is for NHS Arts to launch nationally in 2028, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the NHS. This will mark the beginning of a long-term, nationally consistent approach to integrating creativity into everyday healthcare.
We remain committed to the founding principles of Paintings in Hospitals – ensuring that artworks are accessible, meaningful and used for public benefit – while embracing a new framework that will allow art and creativity to reach more people, more consistently, across the country.
Further updates will be shared as the programme develops. If you would like to get in touch, please email arts@cwplus.org.uk.
1 July 2026
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.