Arts in Health at Velindre: Enhancing Wellbeing Through Creativity

Patients and families at Velindre can also take part in an exciting range of activities. Since the programme’s launch, we’ve seen Velindre host singing projects with the Welsh National Opera and support patients with lung cancer through the power of music. Velindre has also hosted concerts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with world-class musicians serenading patients and staff on the ward. Patients, especially those with palliative care conditions, can also benefit from creative writing sessions. These sessions give patients an outlet to process complex emotions related to their diagnosis and help them connect with others facing similar challenges. Another initiative includes the ‘Poetry Machine’, which brings a poet to the ward. The poet and the patient write a short poem together, leaving the patient with a meaningful written keepsake. This initiative has also engaged staff by offering them greater insights into patients’ feelings and struggles. Through a weekly Art Cart on the ward, patients can take part in small mindfulness activities that alleviate boredom and anxiety, allowing them a brief respite from treatment and the opportunity to focus on something positive.

The Arts in Health programme officially launched in June 2024 with a programme of staff engagement activities. The programme continues to offer creative activities for staff so they can experience the benefits of Arts in Health first-hand. These include body movement sessions to help staff decompress, unwind and shake off the stress at the end of the day and a proposed creative return-to-work programme. These activities aim to recognise the challenging and complex environments that our staff navigate daily by helping them to process trauma and feel cared for at work.

Patients and families at Velindre can also take part in an exciting range of activities. Since the programme’s launch, we’ve seen Velindre host singing projects with the Welsh National Opera and support patients with lung cancer through the power of music. Velindre has also hosted concerts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with world-class musicians serenading patients and staff on the ward. Patients, especially those with palliative care conditions, can also benefit from creative writing sessions. These sessions give patients an outlet to process complex emotions related to their diagnosis and help them connect with others facing similar challenges. Another initiative includes the ‘Poetry Machine’, which brings a poet to the ward. The poet and the patient write a short poem together, leaving the patient with a meaningful written keepsake. This initiative has also engaged staff by offering them greater insights into patients’ feelings and struggles. Through a weekly Art Cart on the ward, patients can take part in small mindfulness activities that alleviate boredom and anxiety, allowing them a brief respite from treatment and the opportunity to focus on something positive.

The impacts of the Arts in Health programme are profound. The Arts have always been a positive medium through which people can express themselves and connect with others in similar situations. By focusing on the holistic needs of patients and staff, the programme offers care that extends beyond clinical treatment. Patients have appreciated the small moments of joy, as well as the comfort of one-to-one interactions with the Arts in Health team, with some patients even requiring less psychology support as a result.