If you look at recent news coverage of Slough’s new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), you might think the story is about a new building and machines.
And yes, the £25 million centre at Upton Hospital, delivered by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, will transform how thousands of patients get tested every year. Earlier
make a real difference to healthcare across the area.
But beyond the MRI machines, CT scanners, and blood tests, the CDC is making a statement: healthcare is not just clinical. It is emotional, social, and holistic.
Stepping inside the centre, visitors are greeted not by sterile walls and cold corridors, but by a mural that immediately softens the space. The artwork is more than decoration. It is therapy.
Research shows that art in healthcare settings can reduce anxiety, ease stress, and even support healing. For patients facing uncertainty, a mural can speak where words cannot by offering comfort, identity, and a sense of belonging.
The mural is inspired by Slough’s wildflowers, those that grow naturally in our parks and green spaces. It is also an invitation to reconnect with nature and explore the beauty that surrounds us.
Jho, the creator of the mural, says, “As an artist, I am deeply interested in how colour and imagery can influence our emotional state. It is widely understood that colour has a direct et-fect on the human mind, and the ability to intervene in a space such as a diagnostic centre opens the opportunity to think about art beyond traditional settings”
“I believe that art should move across many spheres of everyday life, not remain exclusive or limited to galleries. Bringing colour into a space where people can feel vulnerable, such as when visiting the doctor, can offer a small moment of calm, connection, or positive distraction”
Her words remind us that a diagnostic appointment can be intimidating. Waiting for tests, or for news about your health, is deeply human. Art acknowledges that journey. transforms the CDC from a building filled with machines into a place that recognises the patient as a whole person. It also reveals something important about how we think about culture.
Culture is not confined to theatres, galleries or festivals. It lives in the spaces where people spend their everyday lives: schools, parks, streets and even hospitals.
That idea sits at the heart of Slough’s bid to become the UK Town of Culture 2028. The ambition is not simply to stage a programme of events, but to recognise the creativity already present across the town and to weave culture into the places where people live, work and receive care.
Healthcare in Slough is evolving not just through technology but also through compassion and creativity. The inclusion of art in the CDC is a powerful example of this evolution.
This mural and the environment it creates represent a new kind of care. It tells patients: you are seen, you are heard, and you are supported. That is as important as any scan or test.
Yes, the machines will help with faster diagnosis.
Yes, waiting times will reduce.
But perhaps the most important development is this: healthcare in Slough is being reimagined as something holistic, recognising that healing does not happen through technology alone, but through environment, empathy and care.
And that makes the new Community Diagnostic Centre far more than just a medical facility.
In Slough, compassion is now part of every diagnosis. And perhaps that is exactly the kind of culture worth celebrating.
Johana Plazas, known as Jho, is a Colombian visual artist and muralist based in Slough. She graduated in Visual Arts from the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, and she has leaned towards learning pictorial techniques, exploring from the canvas to the field of street art. Jho has a solid back-ground in leadership and voluntarism and is a teacher by heart with a vocation for community work.
Her artwork is characterised by a very vital, intense, expansive and generous colour spirit; of genuine flight that calls to connect with nature.
Gozan John is an A-level student at St Bernard’s School employed by Viva Slough to look under the hood and give a young person’s perspective on the news stories shaping the town.
As William Blake reminds us, even the smallest elements of our world can hold extraordinary meaning:
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
— William Blake
