Beyond Walls

Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences

NHS Lothian Charity’s Tonic Arts team, together with Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC), worked with Ginkgo Projects through Multiplex – the building contractor – to curate and produce one of the UK’s largest ever art and therapeutic design commissioning programmes.

£5m of charity funding* took forward a range of integrated art and therapeutic design enhancements at the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN) and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, NHS Lothian.

There is a growing recognition of the value of an enriched environment helping to reduce stress and anxiety and aid recovery, and this is core to the ‘Beyond Walls’ programme. The emphasis is on the integration and enhancement of the patient experience within arrival, waiting, treatment and ward spaces, with projects focused on way marking, providing dignity and aiding distraction.

Over 20 projects – from digital animation and films to interior design and artworks – involving 30 different artists, designers and makers, were commissioned to develop a range of bespoke creative solutions. In particular, ’The Spine Wall’, ‘Wayfinding Graphics’ and ‘Old to New’ projects enhance wayfinding to make journeys as smooth as possible through a hospital with multiple services. Selected destination waiting areas provide children and young people with bespoke patient and visitor distraction.

Collaboration with staff, patients and stakeholders was central to the success of the project and has provided a distinct identity, with staff and patients feeling a real sense of pride in, and ownership of, the end result. An Art and Therapeutic Design group was established from the beginning of the process, consisting of the project team and key NHS Lothian staff, users and funders. Once key programme strands were agreed, projects were designed in collaboration with patients and staff; shaping the project briefs, selecting the design teams and influencing the final designs. Participation and dialogue were encouraged at every step.

Creative workshops were also led by the artists at hospital sites and city venues to engage staff, patients and the wider public on each commission and to ensure the hospital community was at the centre of the commissioning process. Indeed, they are reflected in the very fabric, with skin textures of three patients and staff members from the hospital services featured in ‘The Spine Wall’.

Balanced with the physical programme was a series of artist fellowships and residences to help build creative relationships between the hospital and the communities it serves, actively engaging with hospital department specialisms and the city’s community. The programme was also crucially delivered alongside the development of charity-supported participatory arts programmes for the building, so creative engagement is ongoing.

The successful delivery is testament to the importance that NHS Lothian has placed on arts and healthcare, integrating this as part of the capital development programme from the start. Stunning art and design permeates the building, de-institutionalising the space, bringing to life the humanity of the site and the people within it, and providing new perspectives on what a hospital environment can be.

The 180m Spine Wall that stretches throughout the hospital really catches your eye as you walk in, then as you move through you find further unique spaces that give the building a personal, warm feel. It is so nice to now see that building coming to life.”

Michael Pearson, General Manager for Clinical Neurosciences

Absolutely love the artwork in this wonderful new building. It’s made arriving at work in the morning a pleasure and given us such a boost as a team. We all have our particular favourites in terms of individual pieces of artwork. Huge congratulations to everyone involved.”

Lindsay Gripton, Highly Specialised Clinical Physiologist (Neuro)