The National Centre for Creative Health and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing were delighted to launch the Creative Health Review on December 6th 2023.
The Creative Health Review highlights the potential for creative health to help tackle pressing issues in health, social care and more widely, including health inequalities and recovery from COVID-19. It demonstrates that creativity is not just a nice to have, but fundamental to individuals, communities and systems. It supports people to live well for longer, reducing the pressure on health and social care systems and contributing to a healthy and prosperous society.
The Review makes recommendations to Government and Metro Mayors for a cross-departmental strategy on creative health, which will support creative health to flourish and maximise its potential across key policy areas.
The Chair of the Commission, Lord Howarth of Newport, and Commissioners including Monty Don, Baroness Lola Young, Professor Sir Michael Marmot and James Sanderson, spoke at the launch. Members of the Lived Experience panel talked about their personal experience of how creativity and cultural activities have benefitted their health and wellbeing.
About the Creative Health Review
The National Centre for Creative Health and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing launched a Creative Health Review on 13th October 2022 and held a series of themed roundtables between Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023.
Building on the findings of the 2017 APPG on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry Report ‘Creative Health’, this timely Review gathers evidence and examples of the benefits of creative health in relation to major current challenges:
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Health Inequalities
- Creativity in the Education System
- Social Care
- End of Life Care
The Review sets out what is required to build an equitable, sustainable and scalable creative health infrastructure so that these benefits can be felt by all, addressing:
- Cost-effectiveness, Value and Funding Models
- Workforce Training and Development
- Leadership and Strategy
About the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPG AHW)
The APPG AHW was formed in 2014 and is a cross-party group of parliamentarians with a shared interest in the field of arts, health and wellbeing. The APPG AHW led a two-year inquiry 2015-17, which resulted in a report, Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing. The National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) has data processing responsibility for the APPG AHW. The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance hosts information about the APPG AHW here.
London Arts and Health contributed to the leadership roundtable and a case study about the Artists’ Represent Recovery Network.
