To celebrate World Mental Health Day (10 October), South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust is sharing a first look at the major artworks being installed inside brand new mental health facilities at its Springfield University Hospital site in Tooting. Commissioned by arts and mental health charity Hospital Rooms, the artwork has been designed to transform how hospital wards are experienced by patients and service users.
The Trust’s new mental health facilities, the Trinity and Shaftesbury buildings, will be home to 20 bespoke artworks produced by a roster of world class artists. Over the last year Hospital Rooms’ artists have led more than 120 creative workshops with the Trust’s service users, patients, carers and staff. This is the first time an art project of this scale has been commissioned in the NHS.
Vanessa Ford, Chief Executive, said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating this year’s World Mental Health Day by sharing a first look at our incredible new artwork and facilities. I feel very proud of the environments we have co-produced and of the Hospital Rooms project which will transform our buildings into bright, welcoming spaces that support recovery.
“The Trinity and Shaftesbury buildings have been designed to provide healing spaces in which our service users will receive high quality care, treatment and recovery and where our teams will be proud to work. Our Trust mission is Making Life Better Together, and these new facilities are key to delivering this for the communities we serve.”
Niamh White and Tim A Shaw, co-founders of Hospital Rooms, said: “Our first ever Hospital Rooms project took place at the Trust’s Phoenix Unit. Six years later, we are delighted that our most ambitious project to date is a collaboration with everyone at the Trust.
“After more than 120 artist-led creative workshops that took place at the hospital with service users and staff, we are now well underway installing 20 extraordinary, co-created artworks throughout the new Trinity and Shaftesbury buildings. From murals to video installations, wall sculptures to opera, there are many firsts for us, and we are proud to be part of this new vision for a mental health hospital. We have loved working so closely with everyone at Springfield Hospital over the last 18 months.”
Liam, a service user who took part in the workshops, said: “Joining the Hospital Rooms project has been lifechanging for me. The opportunities I’ve had to meet new people, learn new skills and spend time being creative has had enormous positive effects on my mental wellbeing and recovery. Without Hospital Rooms I don’t think I would have recovered and got back to normal life as quickly as I did.”
Construction of the new Trinity and Shaftesbury buildings will be completed on schedule this Autumn and an official opening event will be held in Spring 2023. In the coming months more than 500 Trust staff and patients will move into the new hospital buildings beginning with Trinity and followed by Shaftesbury in early 2023.
Designed in partnership with Trust staff, carers, patients and service users, the new facilities represent a £150m investment in local mental health services. The state-of-the-art Trinity and Shaftesbury buildings will be home to a range of inpatient and outpatient mental health services including eight existing wards, and will serve 1.2 million people across Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth.
The buildings are the result of years of hard work and over 400 patient and staff workshops have informed the design and development. Space, light and nature have been guiding principles throughout the buildings’ construction with spacious ensuite bedrooms and garden courtyards throughout, providing a place for rest and reflection.
The Trust’s new facilities will sit at the centre of the new ‘Springfield Village’ development as the Trust’s Springfield site is transformed into a mixed-use community comprising healthcare, housing, a new public square, shops and a new 32-acre park. The Trust aims to break the enduring stigma around mental ill health through this new landscape which will bring its services closer to the communities it serves.
Following the delivery of these new facilities at Springfield, the Trust now looks ahead to new developments at Barnes Hospital in Richmond and Tolworth Hospital in Kingston as it works to transform mental health services across south west London
