West Yorkshire Creative Health System (WYCHS)
1. Purpose and Rationale
The West Yorkshire Creative Health System (WYCHS) is a region-wide initiative, funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority, to develop a joined-up, evidence-based and sustainable creative health ecosystem across West Yorkshire. It responds directly to challenges identified through University of Huddersfield UKRI–AHRC funded research (2023) into creative health provision across the region, including lack of coordination, fragmented funding, poor visibility of provision and limited integration with health and care systems.
Despite a rich landscape of creative, cultural and community assets, creative health activity in West Yorkshire has historically been hyperlocal, under-resourced and poorly connected to commissioning and decision-making structures. The WYCHS addresses this gap by establishing a regional system approach that links networks, place-based delivery, research, workforce development and funding pathways.
2. Our Hub-and-Spoke Model
Our Hub‑and‑Spoke model brings together the National Creative Health Hub with a network of locally embedded spokes to support the system development of Creative Health at a region-wide level. The Hub provides strategic coordination, shared evaluation frameworks, workforce development and cross‑sector knowledge and cultural exchange, enabling evidence‑building and advocacy across the system. The spokes are place-based and led by different sectors, including local authorities, health services, cultural organisations and communities. This ensures that local needs are aligned with a shared regional vision and priorities. Taken together, the Hub‑and‑Spoke approach enables Creative Health to move from fragmented, short‑term projects to a coordinated, sustainable and evidence‑informed system.
3. West Yorkshire Creative Health System – Work Packages (2025–2027)
| WP | Work Package Title | Purpose | Persons Responsible |
| WP1 | Governance and Project Management | To provide strong regional leadership, accountability and coordination for the Creative Health System | Rowan Bailey (Principal Investigator, University of Huddersfield) Nikki Hill (Programme Manager, University of Huddersfield) Joanne Goddard (Finance & Compliance Officer, University of Huddersfield) Victoria Hume (Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance) |
| WP2 | Creative Health Regional Network Development | To build and sustain a connected regional creative health community | Pip Goff (Consortium Lead, Forum Central, Leeds) Fran Coard (Place‑Based Coordinator, Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network / University of Leeds) |
| WP3 | Mapping Creative Health Provision and Case Study Development | To evidence and make visible creative health activity across West Yorkshire | Collette Brauns (Consortium Lead, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) Estelle Cooper (Place‑Based Coordinator, Bradford Culture Company) |
| WP4 | West Yorkshire Creative Health Strategy | To co‑create a shared regional vision and strategic framework | Jenny Rogers (Consortium Lead, Wakefield Council) Stacey Durham (Place‑Based Coordinator, University of Huddersfield) |
| WP5 | Marketing and Communications | To deliver clear, accessible and strategic marketing and communications that raise the profile, coherence and impact of the West Yorkshire Creative Health System across the region. | University of Huddersfield |
| WP6 | Funding and Commissioning Development | To create sustainable funding and investment pathways for creative health | David McQuillan (Consortium Lead, SWYPFT NHS) Liz Towns‑Andrews (Health Innovation Campus, University of Huddersfield) Rowan Bailey (National Creative Health Hub, University of Huddersfield) Jim Farmery (Production Park) |
| WP7 | Workforce Development in Creative Health | To support a resilient, skilled and diverse creative health workforce | Gavin Clayton (HOOT Creative Arts), Jaime Nalson (Kirklees Council), Richard D Smith (Kirklees Council) (Consortium Lead – shared) Emma Andrews (Place‑Based Coordinator, University of Huddersfield) Nicola Stenberg (University of Huddersfield) |
4. A Capabilities Framework for gathering and evaluating creative health in West Yorkshire
Our Capabilities Framework for Evaluation provides a structured approach to gathering and evidencing creative health impacts by aligning qualitative and quantitative evidence to four interconnected domains: work and learning, health and vitality, relationships, and community. The framework is designed to gather stories of lived experience, practice, impact and change generated through creative health activity, and to curate these into coherent, comparable narratives that can operate at multiple scales. By mapping creative health outcomes across these four domains, the framework enables local place‑based evidence to contribute to regional, national and international priorities in health, culture, wellbeing and inclusive growth. Crucially, it ensures that personal and collective experiences are not treated as isolated anecdotes, but as robust evidence of value, demonstrating the significance of creative health in enabling capabilities, strengthening communities, and supporting happier and healthier lives.
Read More about the Creative Health Hub here