Doctors should be encouraged to refer patients to art classes and poetry workshops in an effort to boost their health and wellbeing, a report by MPs and peers has recommended.
Greater use of "arts-on-prescription" programmes could save the NHS money by improving patients' mental or physical health, with evidence suggesting creative activities could lower GP consultation rates and hospital admissions.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Arts, Health and Wellbeing said: "Arts-on-prescription activities help people to overcome physical and psychological pain, playing a vital role in the recovery and maintenance of health.
"Group creative activities in the community also help to overcome social isolation in people of all ages."
The group recommended that NHS England and the Social Prescribing Network should support clinical commissioning groups, NHS trusts and local authorities to incorporate arts-on-prescription in their plans.
It also recommended that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence should regularly examine the evidence and, where justified, include the use of the arts in its guidelines.
The report highlighted the Artlift programme in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, which sees health professionals refer patients with a range of conditions including depression, chronic pain and strokes to take part in an eight-week course led by artists working in poetry, ceramics, drawing or mosaics.
A cost-benefit analysis showed that after working with the artists, GP consultation rates dropped by 37% and hospital admissions by 27% - a saving of £216 per patient.
Health Select Committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston said: "If social prescribing were a drug, people would be outraged that doctors weren't prescribing it."
Former culture minister Ed Vaizey said it was "pretty shocking" that the last health secretary to talk about the arts was Labour's Alan Johnson.
In an apparent sideswipe at Jeremy Hunt, a former culture secretary, Mr Vaizey said: "It's pretty shocking that health ministers have come and gone who have previously held positions in the Department of Culture and know about the importance and value of the arts, but haven't seen fit to talk about and provide that leadership, to show how the arts can make a real difference."
Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health said: "We have long championed greater awareness of the significant health and wellbeing benefits of the creative arts, both in preventing ill health or poor wellbeing, and in aiding recovery.
"We are delighted that this comprehensive report illustrates and champions these benefits and we hope that it will transform the conversation in the health sector around arts and stimulate the widespread implementation of new and innovative approaches."