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