Artroom artists Anna Weir and Rebecca Patterson delivered an Artroom session to paediatric trainees earlier this month at The Suttie Centre. This session was delivered in partnership with our sister project Amplify – to provide art sessions for staff throughout the pandemic. As with most covid related endeavours, postponing and moving activities online became additions to original plans, so our artists were delighted to be working in person once more.
Much of the success of Artroom depends on the staff. They support our artists to deliver the sessions every week and champion what we do. In some areas, the staff make referrals for 1-1 sessions with participants, and we are looking to increase the level of this highly impactful work.
The more awareness we can raise with staff working on the wards, the more referrals we have. Our aim is to roll this referral system across the whole of NHSG but have been trialling this system as a pilot in some of the smaller hospitals thanks to funding from Creative Scotland.
The knowledge and expertise of the staff help us to deliver Artroom to the people who will benefit from it most. Our group sessions are open to all on the ward, and over the past few months, referrals have come from staff at Woodend Hospital, Royal Cornhill Hospital (RCH) and Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH), where our artists work closely with the play leaders there.
Participants from RCH attend our Artroom session at Bonnymuir Green Gardens to create beautiful artwork inspired by their surroundings. The participants themselves have highlighted the value, benefits, and importance of having these sessions outside of the hospital and we received additional funding to continue Artroom there into 2023. We hope that this Artroom will become a permanent fixture in our timetable.
