Liverpool Philharmonic launches NHS partnership

Liverpool Philharmonic has announced a new partnership with the Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust. With this new collaboration the Walton Centre becomes the fourth NHS Trust to join Liverpool Philharmonic's Music and Health programme.

The only hospital trust in the UK specialising in neurology, neurosurgery and pain services, the Merseyside-based Walton Centre will benefit from a range of music-making activities facilitated by Liverpool Philharmonic, with sessions offered across the Centre with the aim of improving the health and wellbeing of patients, families, carers and staff.

Walton Centre chief executive Jan Ross said: ‘The lift that the music performances will be able to give to our patients and staff will be of immense benefit to both their physical and mental wellbeing. I am really looking forward to hearing them around the hospital.’

The new partnership is supported by the Walton Centre Charity as well as the Foyle Foundation, which supports the orchestra’s Music and Health Programme as a whole. Launched in 2008, the programme will celebrate its 15-year anniversary in October 2023 with an evaluation study reporting on the programme’s impact.

Each programme session is delivered by a team of 10 musicians, plus 25 visiting musicians from the Liverpool Philharmonic. In joining the programme, Walton Centre becomes part of a network of healthcare organisations benefitting from Liverpool Philharmonic’s musical outreach, including Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust and Improving Me, a group of 27 NHS organisations in the area supporting women's health and maternity services.

Peter Garden, Liverpool Philharmonic’s executive director of performance and learning, said: ‘It is fantastic that NHS Trusts in the region are increasingly recognising the positive impact music and professional musicians can have on people’s health and wellbeing, and enhancing health services.’