Thousands of adult NHS patients across the UK have enjoyed a dose of creativity thanks to our ‘Boredom Buster’ publications, delivered to hospitals all over the UK.

Two 48-page tabloid style newspapers, inspired by the beloved Summer Annual formula, were produced for the NHS National Performance Advisory group for Arts, Design and Heritage in Hospitals, by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) in partnership with Super Culture.

The Summer 2020 bumper first edition is packed with articles, activities and images designed to boost mood and alleviate anxiety and provides an individual, interactive kit of creative items. As well as reading, patients are encouraged to immerse themselves in drawing, writing, tearing and folding to make each copy their own.

‘Boredom Buster’s’ superpower is its eclectic range of contributions from famous artists, arts therapists and professional creative health specialists. The wealth of contributors include Antony Gormley, Martin Parr, Sarah Hickson, David Dimbleby, Jeremy Deller, Mark Ravenhill, Patrick Gale, Kalpna Woolf, Luke Jerram, Wayne McGregor, Manoj Malde, Dr Phil Hammond and Dr Lizzie Burns, founder of the ‘Anti-boredom Campaign’.

The ‘Boredom Buster’ Annual can be dipped in and out of and contains a variety of themed pages to creatively engage a broad demographic of adult patients, with spreads on history, art, science, poetry, writing, photography, fashion, music, dance, travel, food, outdoors and well-being.

No Summer Annual would be complete without a healthy dose of seaside air. Martin Parr’s iconic photographs bring ice cream and knotted handkerchiefs, Kalpna Woolf’s picnic pages take us to coastlines around the world, whilst the history of Donald McGill’s saucy postcards might raise an eyebrow or two.

There is plenty more besides to entertain. Play travel games, read aloud from Mark Ravenhill’s playlet, trace around your fingers, fold an origami heart or tear out Antony Gormley’s string of paper figures. Green-fingered readers can dream up their ideal garden with a bit of help from Chelsea Flower Show designer Manoj Malde, potential writers can read up on novelist Patrick Gale’s top tips or feel the flow of poetry in the NHS anthology ‘These Are The Hands’.

Line up your bedside view with Alan Lightman’s look at Symmetry; discover the secret of good health with Dr Phil Hammond’s daily prescription of CLANGERS; dance the Macarena whilst sitting down; sing along to Bastille or hum your own top Tropical tunes. Salute street artist Stewy’s artwork of NHS hero Aneurin Bevan and marvel at the Universe with Luke Jerram’s Moon and Gaia.

Access the PDF version HERE

 

‘Boredom Buster’ Two

 

Bringing a blast of the great outdoors to hospital bedsides the length and breadth of the country, including all ten of the UHBW sites, the 48 page, Spring 2021 issue of Boredom Buster’s pages brim with articles, images and activities that provide talking points and windows to the natural world, drawing upon extensive research that proves a connection between nature and good health.

Free to patients, ‘Boredom Buster’ Two was produced in response to growing demand following the successful launch of the first ‘Boredom Buster’ newspaper,  of which more than 40,000 copies were delivered to patients and residents through the national network of arts programmers with the publication receiving widespread acclaim and feedback.

Anna Farthing, former Arts Programme Director, UHBW, said: “The pandemic has shown us that individual creativity can support psychological health and wellbeing, even when the circumstances of our physical health are beyond our control. The ‘Boredom Buster’ format invites people to express themselves by making over its pages so that each copy becomes personalised. The engaging activities have been carefully researched and curated to provide talking points, encouraging meaningful connection with other people and evoking sensory memories of the natural world. We hope that for long stay patients and care home residents, Boredom Buster will feel like a breath of fresh air.”

In ‘Boredom Buster’ Two readers are invited to take part in First Site artist activities with Grayson Perry, Mark Titchner and Bob and Roberta Smith; radiate in the colours of Damien Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Rainbow’; climb a mountain with Black Girls Hike; embrace the positive power of Biophilia with Great Ormond Street Hospital; explore classic paintings with Cambridge Museums; imagine historical adventures with English Heritage, and remember loved ones with Luke Jerram’s ‘In Memoriam’, an outdoor artwork commissioned in 2020 by Culture Weston and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston.

The newspaper features an engaging mix of content covering an array of topics including nature, art, science, literature, history, poetry, yoga, wellbeing, origami and more. Designed to appeal to a wide demographic of people, it provides interactive pages to encourage conversation and creativity, enhance cognitive skills, boost mood, alleviate anxiety and help keep patients occupied. As well as reading, patients can personalise their individual copies by drawing, writing, tearing and folding their way through the pages.

This ‘Boredom Buster’ newspaper was distributed to NHS Foundation Trusts and Hospital Charities throughout the country, including Bristol, Weston, Bath, Taunton, Yeovil, Sheffield, Derby, York, Coventry, Cambridge, Oxford, Liverpool and Kent, and in London at Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London, the Royal Brompton and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.  It was also delivered to care homes in Weston, as part of Super Culture and UHBW’s on-going Arts + Health programme in the town.