“We know what the NHS does is life-saving. But what the arts and social activities do is life-enhancing.” Recalling the 2017 Creative Health report produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, the HSC Secretary Matt Hancock spoke on 6 November 2018 to the King’s Fund about the multiple health benefits of arts and culture.
This in turn can save NHS and social care system money. He reported about several successful examples of projects which addressed health conditions through cultural activities across the country. He also underlined the importance of social prescribing and stressed the need for raising awareness about it and improving accessibility to culture.
The Government intends to adopt a person-centred care approach so to improve prevention. Social prescribing is part of this prevention policy. “Under my vision for prevention, I see social prescribing growing in importance, becoming an indispensable tool for GPs”, said the Secretary.
Although the Secretary’s speech focused mostly on libraries, music, dance and other forms of creativity, evidence shows that also heritage can play a fundamental role in wellbeing. That’s why The Heritage Alliance is working on a report on the relationship between Heritage and Health, which will be released soon.
Read the full transcript of the speech here.