Play Service Team Leader

Job overview

Job Title: Play Service Team Leader

Fixed Term End Date 31st October 2025

The job purpose is: -

1. Be responsible for the management of staff within the Play Service.

2. Take an active role in improving care pathways for patients and their families within their hospital journey.

3. Work as an advanced practitioner in clinical areas.

4. Participate in the assessment, planning, development and evaluation of play services within all areas where children and young people are seen, holding responsibility for service development and defined projects.

5. Provide leadership to junior staff through role modelling, teaching and management.

6. Supervise HPS and degree level students on practice placement as well as students from other members of the MDT.

7. Provide complimentary support to children seen outside of paediatric setting and 16 – 18 yrs. old admitted onto the adult wards.

8. Actively work to improve the safety and quality of services for children, contributing to safeguarding and sourcing funds for environmental improvements and building partnerships with external founders

Main duties of the job

Being an accountable professional

Working within NMUH Play service, the post holder’s key areas of work will be:-

1. To support the Play Services to ensure high quality care in provided throughout the service.

2. To support the Ward Manager in managing the Play service provided in NMUH, ensuring children and young people receive high quality care as required.

3. To manage a caseload of patients, providing advanced therapeutic play interventions to help alleviate patient’s anxieties and fear, helping to increase their co-operation during their time in hospital receiving specialised treatment/care.

4. To liaise with all members of the MDT and other healthcare agencies to provide the highest quality care to paediatric patients and young people at NMUH.

5. To work collaboratively with the Oasis Youth service to provide support to 16yrs – 18yrs admitted to the adult wards.

6. To ensure the Play Team provide a welcoming, safe, and secure environment where culturally diverse patient populations’ needs are being represented throughout the service.

7. To increase awareness, understanding and knowledge of the play team’s work and how our services help patients during their hospital journeys, internally and externally.

8. To provided leadership, guidance, and support to the Play Team, ensuring services can be improved, developed, and evolve at NMUH.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical and Therapeutic

1. To work as an advanced practitioner and manage a caseload of children and young people with complex needs.

2. To apply a high level of understanding of the psychological effects of hospitalisation and long-term chronic illness, providing training and advice to members of the multidisciplinary team.

3. Ensure that the play equipment provided is safe and that the culturally diverse patient populations’ needs are being represented.

4. Support, develop and manage systems to ensure the smooth transfer of children from one area of the Trust to another and from other healthcare settings providing age-appropriate information about the patient’s care and treatment.

Use advanced knowledge and understanding of child/adolescent development and child protection issues to observe and assess patients, reporting back to the MDT relevant details.

6. To plan, implement and evaluate interventions to achieve therapeutic goals, in collaboration with the referrer, the child/young person and their family.

7. Through advanced play and recreation provisions, contribute to specialised clinical judgements based on the patient’s individual needs.

8. To work independently to meet the needs of children and young people as well as part of the MDT, liaising with a wide range of professionals to meet the emotional and psychological needs of the children and young people.

9. To select and apply therapeutic techniques to help children, young people and young adults overcome difficulties with hospital admission/procedures.

10. Provide support to families that are under stress and in crisis, providing expertise on helping their child cope and adapt to specialised treatment, demonstrating a commitment to family centred care.

11. To monitor, evaluate and modify therapeutic interventions to measure the children and/or young persons’ progress and ensure effectiveness of care plan.

12. To undertake cover on any other ward or departments as required due to staff absence ensuring patients receive play input as required and delegated by the supervisor.

Communication

1. Maintain effective communication with children, young people, and their families, working closely with them to ensure high quality care is provided enabling them to cope and adapt to treatment.

2. To establish effective communication, both verbal and written, with all members of the multidisciplinary team in child/adolescent health and in other departments of the hospital where the children and young people are treated.

3. To communicate sensitively and professionally in complex and challenging situations, such as with parents who have been told bad news, or with a teenager who has been abused.

4. To understand and monitor the referral pathway, ensuring patients have been appropriately referred.

5. To establish communication links with other agencies/hospitals involved with the child/young person and to effectively liaise with a wide range of professionals, within other agencies/hospitals to ensure the highest standard of care is provided.

6. Ensure that up to date written records and activity data are maintained in accordance with Professional and Trust standard.

Leadership, supervision & appraisal

1. Provide effective leadership, guidance, and supervision to junior members of the team.

2. Supervise the professional development of the Play team and lead annual appraisals.

3. Manage play services within the local area and Trust wide as delegated by the and Ward Manager.

4. Demonstrate leadership skills through the implementation and management of designated staff and projects.

Training staff & students

1. Participate in and manage the orientation, training, and supervision of HPS students, providing mentorship throughout the placements to the student and delegated mentor.

2. To be responsible for the supervision and written assessment of HPS/nursing students on placement.

3. Actively promote an awareness of the emotional needs of children and young people in hospital and the importance of play and recreation, within the multi-disciplinary team and to external agencies.

Service development & delivery

1. To actively contribute to the planning, evaluation and audit of practice, care pathways and protocols.

2. To be proactive in the delivery of the play service development plan and annual report.

3. To determine changing needs of department and implement strategies to reflect changes.