Enhancing Clinical Environments Through Art and Creativity

Edinburgh Haematology Centre

A stunning collaborative arts programme forming a major reprovision of the Edinburgh Haematology Centre (EHC) at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh has softened and enhanced the clinical environment, calming vulnerable patients and bringing the outdoors in.

Delivered during Covid lockdowns, the programme was inspired by the dynamic industrial heritage and diverse natural environment of the Firth of Forth, the estuary lying between the Lothians and Fife, southern Scotland. Of the old facility, patients and staff spoke of a numbing sense of isolation from the living world and of craving a connection to the outdoors, with a keenly articulated desire for “something to take you away, to remind you you’re alive”.

Staff and patients receiving treatment were instrumental in developing the strategy and creating the brief; selecting and engaging with artists at every stage of the commissioning process.

The centre is flooded with rich creative spaces, providing thought-provoking points of interest and imagery of the natural world and supporting the mental and emotional wellbeing of staff, patients and visitors to the centre – especially those confined to wards due to compromised immune systems.

The artworks respond to and celebrate innovation and beauty of the unique geography and ecology of the local area.
Genuine collaborations between artists and department staff and patients led to bespoke artworks which beautifully enhance the quiet architecture; connecting us back to nature and creating a powerful and meditative healthcare environment for all who use the space.

There’s a reference between craft and material and the level of precision and care that’s given to the patients who will come here and that’s a lovely match of ethos. Having these different interventions round the space makes it feel human.”

Frances Priest, Designer

From the moment you walk in it has that positive vibe about it. It’s an amazing environment with big open spaces and amazing artwork – people can’t help but smile when they come in.”

Fiona Smith, Senior Charge Nurse of Haematology Day Treatment

Find out more about the commissions:

The art and design programme commissioned by our Tonic Arts team uses the Firth of Forth and its communities and industrial heritage as creative stimulus. In fact, you can see the image of the bridges as you move throughout the building.

Kirkcaldy Patterns by Frances Priest, a collection of objects echoing a domestic mantlepiece for the family room, inspired by the linoleum and tile works of Fife.

Lorna Fraser‘s Forth Flora terrariums, echoing the shape of the iconic Forth Rail Bridge.

Ebb and Flow by Lorraine Robson, a series of relief panels for treatment rooms inspired by found objects and impressions on the shoreline. Lorraine worked closely with late patient Pat Scott, consulting closely with her to refine a wealth of ideas. “Working so closely and sharing my creative journey with her during lockdown was a valuable experience we both hugely benefitted from.”

In the waiting area and corridors, Lunar and Navigating by Mary Morrison are a series of deep blue porthole paintings suggesting shifting tides.

Waterlines by Sharon Quigley is a series of otherworldly paintings that draw inspiration from maps, geological forms and flora that grow in and around the salt marshes, coastal grasslands, riverbed and shoreline of the Forth.

An epic five-meter-long painting Blue Cedar, Silver Water by Andrew MacKenzie spans a whole wall and provides a view from the centre of a peaceful Firth of Forth.

Every private room in the centre features FLOW; aerial imagery of the Forth by Elizabeth Ogilvie and Rob Page. Their beautifully abstracted photography and film reveal the hidden backwaters, tributaries and limitless horizons over the period of a full year. A hypnotic, slow moving film in the Pentamidine treatment room creates a contemplative story of shifting tides and tiny details.

In the trees by John Brown is displayed in staff areas, providing playful and uplifting images of treehouses in an imaginary forest and offering up references to familiar places and buildings that stimulate the imagination and give a light-touch reference to the physical height of the hospital environment, which looks out over the city skyline.