In his 2014 book Art as Therapy, philosopher Alain de Botton postulates that visual art can offer us solace, hope and reassurance, in the same way music has long been thought to do. “The point of art in general is to offer therapeutic assistance,” he writes, “It should help us to better endure and enjoy our lives.”

It is from this perspective that long-time friends and collaborators – curator Niamh White and artist Tim A Shaw – started Hospital Rooms, an innovative new public art initiative that seeks to bring museum quality art to psychiatric wards, communal spaces and outpatient areas in hospitals across the UK.

The idea came about after Tim visited a good friend who had recently been sectioned. “It seemed like such an unpleasant environment in which to recuperate,” he says of the mental health facility in London. “If you are physically, mentally and emotionally unwell, you need an environment that is conducive to recovery.” And so, the duo decided to combine their art world experience and expertise. “We realised we had the skills needed to change an environment, so we said: why not tackle a very different environment?”

Working in collaboration with South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, and with the support of the Arts Council, the first Hospital Rooms project launched earlier this month at The Phoenix Unit, a secure residential ward for patients with schizophrenia at Springfield University Hospital in Tooting.

Hospital Rooms commissioned contemporary artists and photographers, including Turner Prize winners Assemble and SHOWstudio’s Nick Knight, to refurbish the unit with site specific installations – meaning the works cannot be removed and sold – that will remain at the unit indefinitely.