Patients and volunteers at the University Hospital of North Tees have turned two years of creative work on an elderly care into a range of cards, wrapping paper and tote bags, with money from sales going back into future patient activities.
The first volunteer pop-up shop took place on Monday 24 August in the hospital’s main concourse in Stockton. The products were developed from artwork created by patients and volunteers over the past two years, giving work made during hospital stays a life beyond the ward.
Patient artwork becomes something people can take home
The collection includes greeting cards and wrapping paper priced at £1, printed tote bags at £4, and jewellery and crocheted hearts at £1. The Trust said the products were funded by its official charity, North Tees and Hartlepool Together, working in with its Arts Council.
Rather than treating the shop as a one-off fundraiser, the money is being directed back towards the volunteer service. The Trust says all proceeds will be reinvested in patient activities and projects across its hospital sites. More pop-up shops are planned over the coming months, with future dates due to be shared through the Trust’s social media channels.
Creative activity with a practical purpose
The project sits within a wider programme of volunteer-led and arts-based activity at the Trust. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust says it has almost 400 volunteers supporting patients and visitors, while its Arts Council, formed in 2025, works to bring visual arts into healthcare settings for the benefit of patients, visitors and staff.
That work has already included creative projects with older patients. In 2025, the Trust reported on activities on wards 40 and 42 that used crafts and shared storytelling to encourage patients to spend time together, talk about their lives and take part in purposeful activity away from the immediate routines of . An older persons physiotherapist involved in that work said social and group activities can support recovery, function and independence during a hospital stay.
There is a useful loop in the new pop-up project. Patients and volunteers make the original work, the designs become affordable products, and the money raised is then used to support more activities for patients. North Tees and Hartlepool Together exists to fund improvements and extras that sit beyond core NHS , including projects intended to make hospital stays more comfortable and supportive.
What happens next
Monday’s shop was the first outing for the new range, but it will not be the last. The Trust has confirmed that additional pop-up shops will take place over the coming months. It has not yet published the next dates, so people interested in supporting the project will need to watch the Trust’s channels for further announcements.
The first sale may have lasted only three hours, but the project behind it has taken two years to this point. For the patients whose drawings now appear on products, and the volunteers who helped develop them, the result is something : creative work made on a hospital ward is now helping to fund the next round of patient activity.