It's also the only NHS Trust with a permanent arts development post at senior management level. Elaine Burke has been the Trust's Arts in Health Development Manager for two years, following 18 months of projects and developments leading up to it. The post, fully funded by the NHS, is there primarily because the programmes which Elaine and a range of partner organisations and agencies had put together were delivering results. Much arts and health work across the country has been driven by individual artists, arts organisations and the voluntary sector. Although in the NHS there is clearly growing awareness of the potential and opportunity, and the tide seems to be running strongly in favour of more arts and health work, this is still an unique project.

An art therapist by trade, Elaine was Head of Arts Therapy for children's services for 8 years, during which time she saw the potential of broader applications of creative approaches within the Health Service. Through her linking up with other organisations which understood and shared the interest, arts and health projects began to develop. Key early support came from Hull's Arts Officer. Before long she was developing and managing a range of 10 projects across the catchment, and making frequent presentations about them. Through her secondment into the Health Promotion unit, creative approaches became a pillar of health promotion. Before long, the new post was established, giving her a clear mandate to develop the work, and raise much of the money, and arts and health became firmly embedded within the Trust's overall strategies.

The starting point for the programme is that health is not just about feeling ill, it's about feeling good about yourself. There are two thrusts to the project's work. Firstly, it delivers programmes with and for people who are ill, including, for example, people suffering from mental ill health. Secondly, it works with vulnerable, at-risk groups in the wider community. In this part of its work, there is a strong focus on young people, particularly looked-after children. It covers a range of areas including accident prevention, sexual health, smoking and healthy eating, looking to tackle issues like the fact that suicides amongst teenage boys are 160% of those for teenage girls, reflecting many of the issues for young offenders.

The project is a genuine partnership, involving around 20 other main organisations. The key arts organisations include Artlink Exchange, the Parcels Office in Bridlington and Hull Truck. The Social Services and Education Departments of each of the two main local authorities re partners, along with local voluntary sector groups, and the Children's Society and NCH. The result is a strong arts and health network for the area. There has been major commitment from Social Services, reflecting the way that this sector is reviewing its own approaches. The programme draws funding from Neighbourhood Renewal, Health Action Zone, various bits of the local authorities, including arts budgets, and the Regional Arts Lottery Programme, but roughly 60% of the project money comes from the NHS.

The work ranges widely. It has included a Visual Arts residency for young people leaving care, drama with children in care, the Speak Out drama project in schools, working with young offenders exploring mental health and confidence through drama, and Word Power , a writer's residency with children and staff in specialist children's services.

Elaine is leading the development of a multi-agency Arts and Health Strategy, another first, through the arts and health network, involving all the key stakeholders. It is aimed at showing ways the arts can tie into the 'strategic drivers' of the range of agencies, local and regional, contributing to health in the East Riding and Hull. It is also, at least partly, a vehicle for a snowballing process of consultation and advocacy which is drawing in more potential supporters and stakeholders as it goes along - the Local Strategic Partnerships, and the other NHS Trusts in the area. Are people more acute in East Yorkshire? There seems to have been less difficulty in getting key individuals and partners to become involved than seems to happen elsewhere. Getting local, regional and national profile has obviously helped.

A consultation draft of the strategy is about to go into circulation, long on readability, and with plenty of evidence of the art. Through it, the intention is to build on the long-term commitment of the Community Health Trust by encouraging partner agencies and organisations to embed arts and health work into their own programmes. As Elaine says, health is everybody's business.

Contact: elaine.burke@herch-tr.nhs.uk