Number 60 in our countdown of '70 Ways Art Improves Our Health' is all about us, because we’ll be 60 years old next year!

Paintings in Hospitals has grown to become one of the UK’s leading national arts in health charities. We work with 180 health and social care partners across the country and inspire better health for two million people every year. But our beginnings were much smaller.

In 1959, Sheridan Russell fixed an artwork to the wall in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. It was at this moment that our charity’s mission began.

Sheridan was Britain's first male almoner: a pioneer of what we now call Social Work. The almoners believed that medical treatment could be made better by improving the care environment. Sheridan had started displaying artworks in waiting rooms and wards. He began to see just how important art could be to our wellbeing.

Sheridan Russell, Founder of Paintings in Hospitals

Sheridan believed that everyone should be able to experience the health benefits of art, so set out to create a special art collection. This would become the Paintings in Hospitals collection: the first and only national collection of art to support people’s physical and mental health.

Next year, Paintings in Hospitals will turn 60 years old. We have so many exciting events in store to pay tribute to six decades of artworks, activities, tours, talks, commission and projects: all to inspire better health, happiness and wellbeing for everyone. We hope you’ll help us celebrate!

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