ART IN HEALTHCARE
BACKGROUND
From 2023 onwards, OutPost Arts has proudly worked in partnership with NHS D&G to deliver a diverse creative health programme across clinical healthcare sites. Funded by the Dumfries & Galloway Health Board Endowment Fund and supported by an NHS D&G Arts Steering Group, OutPost Arts has established an impactful and innovative Art in Healthcare programme with three core delivery strands – Participatory, Events & Exhibitions and Enhancing Spaces.
The Art in Healthcare programme aims to:
- • Improve the morale, health and wellbeing of patients, visitors, volunteers, and staff.
- • Enrich the patient journey and visitor experience
- • Increase access to arts/culture in healthcare settings, confronting health inequalities
- • Connect to wider art, culture and third sector organisations, services and initiatives, through collaboration and partnership working.
- • Raise awareness and understanding of art/culture’s positive impact on health and wellbeing.
“There is evidence of the impact the arts can have on improving health and wellbeing and DG Creative Wellbeing has a powerful development story of collaboration between service users, staff and the community which has led to enhanced connections, increased self-confidence, skills development and social opportunities.”
PARTICIPATORY STRAND
The Artist-led participatory programme features a range of stimulating and accessible creative workshops and sessions, working with patients, visitors, staff and volunteers.
OutPost Arts has worked closely with NHS D&G to design a bespoke programme for staff teams that supports personal wellbeing, providing a safe space to build positive working relationships, and promoting mindful distraction – building self-care and coping mechanisms to manage stress and burn out.
The participatory programme has also nurtured positive relationships between those receiving and providing clinical care – providing opportunities for patients and staff to relate to each other as equals by taking part in the same creative workshop.
“It was really therapeutic – I enjoyed it so much and had so much fun – I haven’t laughed for a long time.”
The participatory programme also contributes directly towards enhancing healthcare spaces – creating outcomes through workshops that brighten up wards and public areas and providing staff with a sense of ownership in improving their working environments.
Staff, patients and Artist Facilitators are encouraged to complete reflection forms at the end of each session, and this evaluation directly informs future planning and delivery.
“It was a lovely, supportive and positive environment and gave a chance for relationships to form and bonds to strengthen between patients and staff.”
EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS
We have successfully developed small and largescale exhibition spaces across the Dumfries & Galloway’s four major healthcare sites, displaying work created by staff and patients viathe Art in Healthcare Participatory programme – celebrating staff and patient’s work. Exhibitions are also generated through the project’s Community programme – displaying the work by the participants of Art Journal Project, Creative Toolbox, and the Graduate & Satellite Programmes.
“Exhibiting was good for building my confidence. I made a piece of work that I probably wouldn’t otherwise have done. The hospital exhibition was really helpful in sharing work and ideas with others and for getting a glimpse of what being a ‘real’ artist feel like.”
We also work in partnership with a range of regional art, culture and third sector – showcasing professional artists/makers work and community generated outcomes with wideaudiences.
OutPost Arts is being supported by national partners to catalogue and exhibit work from D&G Health Board’s art collection and build a collections management strategy. We are also excited to bring work from external collections to our region’s healthcare sites via the exhibition programme – creating new access points for people to access a diverse range of art.
From 2023 onwards, we have facilitated several large-scale events in healthcare sites that brought stakeholders together and underlined art and culture’s powerful connection to health and wellbeing, including Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and Healing Arts Scotland.
ENHANCING SPACES
By creating welcoming, vibrant, creative and uplifting public and clinical healthcare spaces, we support NHS staff, patients and visitors to feel supported, relaxed and valued – softening what can be an intimidating experience.
Since 2023, we’ve worked in partnership with talented artists and partners to create severalspace enhancements. We facilitate transformational public art outcomes with healthcare service-users that reduce stigma and create supportive and welcoming environments for vulnerable people. In 2024 we unveiled a stunning large-scale painted mural at The Willows Children Young People & Family Centre, and in 2025 we have worked with staff and service-users from Focus Recovery Hub in Lochside to co-design a range of public art installationsthat enhance the external and internal space. Both projects were led by Artist Katie Andersonwho supported Art Journal Project and Creative Toolbox graduates to co-create designs with staff and service-users.
“The mural project was designed and developed to empower service users to give them a sense of ‘ownership’ and encourage all those who took part to increase their own personal ambitions and creative practices by thinking big and bold. We hope the mural provides something special to the space and proves to be a real talking point for staff, service users and visitors.”
As part of an NHS D&G wellbeing initiative, we supported staff and volunteers at DGRI to install a painted window mural in the main Atrium space that underlined the importance of self-care. Over the course of a day, participants used mindful drawing practises to create eye-catching patterns – spelling out an uplifting ‘You Matter’ slogan.
Looking forward, we’re working in partnership with DGRI wards and Galloway Hospital to create bespoke public art outcomes that support patients, staff and visitors to connect with creativity to support health and wellbeing, including a Memory Trail, a heritage installation, creative relaxation spaces for staff, and largescale murals.
“This has pushed me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to speak with cool and interesting people that I would have never had the chance to meet without being a part of this project… it gave me the chance to meet new like-minded people and allowed me to learn more skills which will help me in the future. I feel like I have grown in confidence and more doors have opened for me by getting involved.”
If you would like to know more or to get involved in this project, please contact us.
