Dame Caroline Dinenage, MP for Gosport, has become a Commissioner for the National Centre for Creative Health’s Review.
Along with 15 other Commissioners, Caroline will work with the Creative Health Review to highlight and tackle pressing issues in health and social care. In particular, the Review will look at health inequalities and the challenges faced in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a Commissioner, Caroline will help to translate the findings of the Review into recommendations for policymakers, contributing to the development of a long-term creative health strategy.
Caroline has previously served as the Minister of State for Care, in the Department of Health and Social Care, from 2018-2020, and Minister of State for Digital and Culture at the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2020-2021.
The National Centre for Creative Health is a registered charity that campaigns for greater integration between creativity, culture and healthcare, citing the positive benefits that it has on our wellbeing.
Speaking on her appointment, Dame Caroline said:
“I am delighted to be joining the National Centre for Creative Health in conducting a Creative Health Review.
I've seen first-hand as a constituency MP how creative pursuits can bring huge benefits to our health and wellbeing, and as a minister, I worked hard to make them integral to our health and social care system.
As a Commissioner, I look forward to working with colleagues with a wealth of experience to transform research findings into policy recommendations, placing creative health at the centre of future health strategies.”
The Rt Hon Lord Howarth of Newport CBE, Chair of the NCCH and Co-Chair of the APPG AHW, said:
“Creative health has important potential in health and social care. It should be a crucial element in addressing difficult and pressing policy challenges. Used effectively it can strengthen preventative strategies to maintain health for all; help frail and older people stay healthy and independent; enable patients to take a more active role in their own health and care; improve recovery from illness; enhance mental healthcare; improve the quality of social care; relieve pressure on GP services and enable more cost-effective use of resources within the NHS.
“Our ambition for the Review is to demonstrate the potential of creative health in complementing and enhancing the effectiveness of conventional medicine and, working with a remarkable group of commissioners, to explore creative health approaches from different perspectives.
“Creative health has something important to offer in relation to health inequalities, building social capital, levelling up and improving economic productivity. It is time for policymakers to recognise the long-term benefits of creative health and harness its full potential to meet their strategic aims and enable people to have better lives.”
