NHS patients in Morpeth create award-winning artworks

The annual Koestler Awards aim to challenge negative stereotypes and help people lead more positive lives by motivating them to participate and achieve in the arts.

An amazing 25 artworks by patients being treated in secure care services at Northgate Hospital received awards, including an award for Outstanding Debut.

A portrait titled ‘John Coffey’, and a painting titled ‘The Egypt’, both received Platinum Awards, the highest award available.

Northgate Hospital is run by Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW), a leading provider of mental health and disability services across the North East and North Cumbria.

Eric Rothwell, artist at the recovery and engagement art hub for secure care services at Northgate, at CNTW, said: “For me, one of the best parts of the awards each year is reading out the judges’ handwritten comments - it’s fantastic that patients get to hear an outside expert opinion about their individual work and receive that encouragement.

“Receiving one of these awards is a lifetime achievement; artworks which receive an award are shortlisted from over 6,600 entries, and are judged by some of the leading lights in British contemporary art. There are only a very few of these, especially the gold and platinum awards, given out across the whole UK each year.”

Many of the entries by patients at Northgate will also be on display as part of the Koestler Awards’ ‘Freedom’ exhibition in the South Bank Centre, London.