Art prizes bring new works into NHS Lothian settings, enhancing environments for patients and staff

Patients, visitors and staff across NHS Lothian will benefit from new additions to the Tonic Arts collection, following the award of three purchase prizes at major Scottish exhibitions in 2026.

NHS Lothian Charity’s arts in health programme, Tonic Arts, awards purchase prizes each year to bring high-quality contemporary artwork into healthcare settings, helping to create spaces that feel more welcoming, humane and reflective of the people who use them.

This year, prizes were awarded at:

Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Degree Show
Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) New Contemporaries
RSA Annual Exhibition

The selected works will now become part of the Tonic Arts collection of over 2,500 artworks, displayed across more than 30 NHS Lothian sites.

Why this matters for patients and staff

Thoughtfully chosen artwork plays an important role in healthcare environments. It can offer moments of calm, distraction and reflection, which is particularly valuable for patients experiencing anxiety, long waits or difficult treatment journeys. For staff, artwork can support wellbeing in high-pressure environments and help create more uplifting places to work.

Central to this approach is the careful selection of work that is not only high-quality and contemporary, but also appropriate for healthcare settings. By choosing emerging and established artists from professional exhibitions and degree shows, Tonic Arts ensures that the artworks reflect the values and quality of we find across the NHS.

Selecting artwork from a diverse range of artists, reflecting many aspects of life around us, the team ensure that the collection remains engaging while being sensitively suited to its environment – helping to create spaces that feel welcoming, reassuring and connected to everyday life.

2026 prize recipients

Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show

Emerging artist Poppy Morgan has been awarded the ECA purchase prize.

Poppy’s textile work stood out among more than 500 graduating students. Her project draws on personal storytelling, incorporating her grandmother’s recipes into intricate, lace-like embroidered designs.

This intimate connection to memory, family and everyday life creates work that invites comfort and familiarity – qualities that can resonate deeply within healthcare settings.

RSA New Contemporaries

Two photographic works by Ellis Bairstow, a Glasgow School of Art graduate, have been acquired: 12 Commercial Court (2025) and Persevere Court (2026), the latter depicting Leith’s distinctive tower block.

Ellis’s work captures a distinct moment in Scotland’s architectural and social history, documenting communities shaped by these buildings. With many such sites facing demolition, the photographs act as a record of place, identity and belonging.

His work will be seen by patients and staff within the very communities it represents, creating recognition, connection and conversation.

“I’m so delighted to receive the Tonic Arts Purchase Prize… I hope it brings back memories for people… and creates a sense of connection and recognition.” – Ellis Bairstow

RSA Annual Exhibition

A further prize has been awarded to Brianna Toss, whose work, “Happily For Now”, explores themes of creativity, nature and wellbeing.

Her piece reflects the growing connection between arts and green health -highlighting the positive impact that creativity and the natural world can have on wellbeing. This aligns closely with the role of Tonic Arts in supporting recovery, reflection and emotional wellbeing within NHS settings.

Bringing art and healthcare together

By awarding these prizes, Tonic Arts ensures that patients and staff have access to high-quality, thoughtfully selected contemporary art, while also enabling artists to bring their work into environments not typically associated with art . Into healthcare environments where it can transform how people feel, offering comfort, familiarity and moments of pause.

Susan Grant, Tonic Arts Manager: Enhancements, explains:

In large public spaces and corridors, we tend to hang bolder, contemporary work that might challenge people or push the boundaries a little more. This gives patients, staff and visitors opportunities to be distracted from the sometimes distressing or stressful situations they find themselves in, immersing themselves in colour and thought-provoking imagery.

“We hang works such as Ellis Bairstow’s photographs in the main corridors of hospitals. Series of two or more artworks make for ‘mini-curations’, avoiding continuous single hangs along long hospital corridors, and creating wayfinding points, helping patients and visitors find their way and reducing their stress in unfamiliar settings. As well as patients and visitors, there is often a huge student and staff population onsite at hospitals who’s wellbeing benefits from an improved visual environment and seeing artworks that have layers of meaning, providing moments of pause and reflection in their busy days.”

“In quieter rooms where a consultant might be having a difficult conversation with a family, or treatment areas where patients are separated from the outside world for long periods, we hang something calming and more domestic in scale, such as this works by Brianna Toss. Such nature-based works, can provide a sense of calm and bring the outdoors in. This contributes to positive therapeutic design by making the environment feel less clinical; reducing patient anxiety and potentially improving mood. The artworks also provide a conversation point for visitors or staff to connect with patients, strengthening relationships a little when people are at their most vulnerable.”