West Berkshire is one of the first six areas in England to get national Creative Health Leads funding. A joint bid with Reading and Wokingham borough councils, local NHS partners and the voluntary sector will fund a two-year Creative Health Lead, employed by West Berkshire Council, to work across all three local authorities.
The Lead will work with neighbourhood teams and community organisations to expand creative health opportunities, especially for people living with frailty, dementia, heart and lung conditions, cancer and ongoing mental health challenges.
Creative health is already thriving locally. The Corn Exchange in Newbury runs arts workshops, school sessions, adult courses and confidence-building projects. Its dementia-friendly Memory Café supported more than 240 participants in the past year, offering relaxed creative spaces where people and carers can connect.
Patrick Clark, West Berkshire's executive member for public health, welcomed the national programme and said it will help explore how creativity can keep people well and make arts and culture part of everyday support.
Dr Nick Broughton, chief executive of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West and Frimley Integrated Care Boards, said the funding builds on strong partnership working across Berkshire West and will bring creative health into neighbourhood teams, giving people more ways to stay well and connected and easing pressure on services.
The new Creative Health Lead will coordinate, expand and evaluate programmes across the district so more residents can experience the wellbeing benefits of creativity as part of everyday health and care.
Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter
