| “Annual Society-wide General Health Benefits of at Least £506m" |
Art & the Senses: Body & Mind |
| Impact of the Arts on Health & Healthcare Services in Wales , Bangor University , April 11, 2026 |
The Arts Council of Wales published a report on the arts and health on 19th January. The report, mentioned below 23rd February, was prepared by: Jacob Davies, Researcher in Health Economics, Centre for Health, Economics and Medicines Evaluation (CHEME) at Bangor University Greg Flynn, Researcher in Health Economics, CHEME, Bangor University Professor Vicky Karkou, Professor of Arts & Wellbeing and Director of the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, Edge Hill University Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards, Professor of Health Economics and Co-Director of CHEME, Bangor University. The report runs to 65 pages. Some of its salient points in excerpt: BACKGROUND “This report provides an assessment of the economic impact of the arts on the NHS and social care in Wales, as well as wider population health and societal impacts. "This is first time the economic impact of the arts on the NHS and social care in Wales has been investigated at national level.” * * * * EXECUTIVE SUMMARY “There is a growing body of evidence linking engagement in arts and culture to better physical and mental health across the life-course. Establishing the financial value of these benefits, and possible savings for the NHS and social care, is an important emerging area of research. “This report builds on a 2024 report by Frontier Economics that explored these economic impacts at UK level. It applies the models used therein to Welsh population figures and attendance and participation data for Arts Council of Wales (ACW) multi-year funded organisations 2019-2024. "It also explores specific healthcare challenges where the arts may have the most to offer in terms of NHS and social care cost savings in Wales.” * * * * KEY FINDINGS “The estimated financial value of health and productivity benefits through all arts engagement in Wales (including but not limited to ACW activity) is at least £588m a year. “We estimate ACW’s investment in multi-year funded Organisations generates a financial ROI of £11.08 in for every £1 invested in terms of health, wellbeing and productivity benefits. “Evaluations of specific ACW funded projects that target particular health conditions indicate: “A dance for strength and balance programme has the potential to save £5m a year in healthcare costs by preventing falls amongst the elderly. “If arts programmes could reach 5% of young people in NHS mental health pathways, this would generate annual mental health and wellbeing benefits of £9.5m. “If 5% of all adult mental health GP appointments were avoided following engagement in the arts, this would save £17m per year. “Arts programmes that support the health and wellbeing of NHS staff have the potential to save up to £3.5m a year through reductions in staff sickness and attrition costs. “These findings point to significant, monetary health and wellbeing benefits of arts engagement in Wales.” “ACW's investment is currently around £29.3m per year. ACW also fund individual projects such as productions, tours, events, and programmes to increase engagement in the arts, often working in partnership with other sectors such as education and health. "The current evidence base suggests that all such programmes have the potential to support the NHS, its workforce, and reduce demand on NHS resources by keeping people well in their communities.” * * * * METHODOLOGY “Applying Welsh population data to all economic models in Frontier Economics (2024) to estimate the financial value of NHS and social care cost savings, individual health and wellbeing, and productivity benefits generated through all arts engagement across Wales. “Applying appropriate Frontier Economics models to annual participation and attendance figures from ACW’s multi-year funded organisations to estimate the financial return on ACW’s investment in terms of health, wellbeing and productivity benefits generated across those funded organisations. “Presenting examples of ACW funded arts programmes that target particular health challenges in Wales and estimating a financial value for the evidenced impacts on participant outcomes in those programmes. This allows us to demonstrate, from a financial perspective, the potential of these programmes in addressing key health and wellbeing challenges across Wales and the Welsh health and care systems. “The financial value of health and productivity benefits generated through all arts engagement in Wales, is at least £588m a year. To estimate the financial value of population benefits of all arts engagement in Wales, we re-estimated the models presented in Frontier Economics (2024) using respective Welsh population data to pro-rate the engagement figures used in that report. As population data was used, this analysis is representative of all arts engagement in Wales, inclusive of activity outside of the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) portfolio. “The Frontier Economics models from its 2024 report were used as it offered the most comprehensive analysis of the economic impacts of the arts identified in our review of the published and grey literature. The robust derivation of financial values and assumptions within their analyses provided the best approach to generating estimates for Wales. * * * * FINANCIAL “Through doing this, we estimate all arts engagement in Wales generates: “Annual society-wide general health benefits of at least £506m “Annual society-wide productivity benefits of at least £81m. “We also estimate all arts engagement in Wales generates annual NHS and social care cost savings of at least £26m. "The average annual financial return on Arts Council of Wales’ investment in multi-year funded organisations is £11.08 in health and productivity benefits for every £1 invested.” * * * * CASE STUDIES "A national dance for strength and balance programme has the potential to save NHS Wales £5m per year through preventing falls amongst the elderly. "If 5% of the young people referred to Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Wales engaged in specialist arts programmes as part of their treatment pathway, £9.5m in mental health and wellbeing benefits would be generated. "Arts-based interventions for people with mild-to-moderate mental health could reduce the need for up to 3.1m adult mental health related GP appointments per year. If just 5% of these adult mental health GP appointments were avoided through engaging with arts-based programmes, this would generate savings of £17m per year. "Arts programmes that support the health and wellbeing of NHS staff have the potential to save up to £3.5m a year through reductions in staff sickness and attrition costs. "Falls prevention. Amongst the elderly, falls and subsequent injuries are a considerable health risk. 30% of people over the age of 65 will fall at least once a year, this increases to 50% of those aged over 8023. Over 130,000 older people will fall at least once in Wales each year. The high prevalence of falls and likelihood of subsequent injury cost the NHS £2.3bn per year. Almost half of this (£1.1bn) is attributed to hip fractures. * * * * The report contains 46 references across scholarly and government sources. It contains some items that deserve qualification. These will be addressed in a critique to follow. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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