: : Grampian Hospitals Art Trust : :

One of the fundamental aims of palliative care is to improve Quality of Life. I believe the ability to relate meaningfully with others and the environment is central to this. The art sessions have been among the most strikingly beneficial interventions I have seen in Roxburghe House. They provided the opportunity for patients (and staff) to interact with their environment in a meaningful and creative way, promoting control and a sense of purpose. For the duration of the session the patients immediately stopped being patients and became creative individuals and as such achieved interactions with the other individuals present that were not illness/diagnosis/prognosis dependent, but were in fact mutually supportive and encouraging.

Dr Gordon Linklater,
Consultant in Palliative Care

In February 2006 a seminar was held at Roxburghe House, Aberdeen, which looked at the exciting work which is being done in Glasgow by Art in Hospital. Barbara Gulliver, director of Art in Hospital, and Marielle Macleman, Artist Co-ordinator at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Glasgow, gave inspiring presentations on the work which they have been doing in Glasgow since 1991.

Following that seminar an art-in-hospital steering group was formed to look at implementing a similar programme within Roxburghe House. ‘Taster’ art sessions were held in October and September 2006 and in January 2007 artists began working with groups of patients at Roxburghe House on a regular basis.

‘We are presently working to secure funding to develop both the Roxburghe House Art Project and the larger Gathering Place Project.’

Feedback from the initial sessions was very positive:

Good experience. Really enjoyable. Used the artistic side of my brain. Stimulating. I should do this more often.

I had a fantastic time; really relaxing and stimulating! It was great to chat to the others in the room doing their own work. A lovely atmosphere to be in!