Creative Health Programmes
Gloucestershire Creative Health Consortium (GCHC)
Creative Health is a rapidly developing field that uses creativity and cultural engagement to support and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. National momentum has accelerated in recent years through the establishment of the National Centre for Creative Health and the formation of a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Creative Health.
Gloucestershire is recognised as a leader in this field. Central to this reputation is the ten-year partnership between the Gloucestershire Creative Health Consortium (GCHC) and NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Artspace is one of the five founding members of the GCHC, alongside Artlift, Art Shape, Mindsong and The Music Works. In 2025, Play Gloucestershire joined the consortium.
Together, consortium partners co-produce Arts on Prescription pathways for people across the county, ensuring that Gloucestershire residents of all ages and backgrounds can access creative opportunities that support their health and wellbeing.
A significant new area of work that commenced during this financial year is the GCHC’s leadership of the arts and culture strand of investment from the Summerfield Trust, delivered in partnership with Gloucestershire Culture Trust. Artspace involvement with this will strengthen the investment in arts and culture across the county and further support partnerships and advocacy for culture.
Overview of Artspace’s NHS Commissioned Projects
Artspace currently delivers two NHS Gloucestershire ICB-funded Creative Health programmes: Journeys and Xpres! Both programmes are co-produced with artists, clinicians, partner arts organisations, schools and young people, ensuring that delivery is responsive to local needs and informed by lived experience.
Referrals are received from a range of professionals, including clinicians, school nurses, pastoral and SEND staff, social prescribers and Young Minds Matter practitioners. Each referral typically equates to between 10 and 18 hours of creative intervention.
All GCHC partners, including Artspace, submit detailed programme and participant data to NHS Gloucestershire ICB through the shared Monitoring Data Set (MDS). This enables the NHS to assess:
• Who is accessing services and from where
• Levels of need and complexity
• Wellbeing outcomes, including Mental Health Scales and Goals Based Outcomes
• Impact on NHS service use
Evidence gathered through the MDS demonstrates the value of creative interventions. For example, Xpres! has shown improved engagement with planned healthcare appointments among participants, alongside reductions in unplanned emergency care, demonstrating both preventative impact and potential cost savings for the NHS.
Click here to find out more about ‘Artspace Journeys’
Click here to find out more about ‘Xpres!’
Download the Artspace Autumn 2026 Programme
Further reading and resources about Creative Health can be found on the following websites:
The National Academy for Social Prescribing