Atrium arts corner welcomes staff for calm lunchtime resets
A London NHS trust has set aside a bright corner of its hospital atrium for weekly arts-and-health sessions—small group sketching one day, a drop-in choir the next—so clinical and support staff can pause on site without leaving the building during short breaks.
The change was introduced this month after estates and staff-side leads mapped footfall through the concourse and found that a table, stools and a portable screen could host quiet activities between clinics, turning a thoroughfare into a low-cost space that absorbs 20–30 people across the midday peak.
The decision leans on national context: the NHS Staff Survey for 2024 drew responses from over 600,000 staff across England and reported that 37% experienced work-related stress in the previous 12 months, underscoring why trusts are testing small, repeatable measures that fit the rhythm of a hospital day (source named below).
Practicalities are simple: an acoustic screen softens noise from the café, a trolley carries paper and pencils, and a song list sits beside a keyboard; participation is informal, with supervisors encouraging short “step-away” breaks that can be timed to handovers rather than booked weeks ahead.
Equity is built into the detail—chairs are spaced for wheelchair users, lyric sheets include large print, and posters appear in commonly requested languages—so international recruits, porters, ward clerks and junior doctors can all take part without needing prior experience or specialised kit.
Day to day, the effect is modest but cumulative: a registrar sketches for ten minutes before a late list, a cleaner hums through a chorus on the way to the next round, and a ward team swaps notes over tea after a short sing; managers will watch monthly participation counts and short-term absence rates through 2025 to judge whether the corner should become permanent.
