'Trailblazing' programme to boost health and back the NHS through creativity to launch in Wakefield

Announce in Bradford last week, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said the new programme would be a “win-win” for the region, creating better health outcomes and cutting NHS waiting lists, by ensuring that more health conditions are prevented rather than treated.

The initiative, backed by £500,000 of funding from West Yorkshire Combined Authority and coordinated by the National Creative Health Hub at the University of Huddersfield, will bring together partners from the NHS, local authorities, universities, the voluntary sector and cultural organisations. It will focus on long-term change, including developing skills and workforce capacity, improving referral routes, building a stronger evidence base for interventions, and brokering further investment into creative health activities in the region.

The creative health activities include art, writing, music, dancing, gardening and other nature-based projects to support mental and physical health.

These activities aim to allow people to connect with others, and gain coping skills that improve mental and physical health over time, as well as reduce stress and loneliness and help people manage illness and life challenges before problems become more serious.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “While health inequalities continue to hold too many people back across our region, culture and creativity have the power to improve health and wellbeing, and bring our communities together. “This programme is a win-win for West Yorkshire - it will boost the health of our communities and bolster our frontline health services, by backing the shift from treatment to prevention in the NHS. “We’re investing in this trailblazing programme to help more people benefit from lifechanging creative opportunities in a brighter West Yorkshire that works for all.”