Play Specialist

Job overview

• To provide high quality, holistic play service for all children, young people and their families within the Acute Paediatric Service, enabling them to feel safe and at ease within the hospital environment.

• To ensure all children and young people have appropriate access to play whilst in hospital. To use play as a tool to communicate and build a rapport with children and young people whilst attending hospital.
• Help bridge the gap between hospital and home, creating a positive environment and a positive patient journey and will provide interesting and stimulating play programmes for children, young people and their families.
• To highlight the importance of play in assisting recovery and aiding development to all health professionals and students.
• Using knowledge of child development; plan, initiate and supervise play activities for children in hospital, appropriate to their age, development, medical condition and background, in order to meet their social, emotional and developmental play needs and to help ensure a positive hospital experience.
• To work in collaboration with the multi-disciplinary team to meet the normalising play needs of children and young people through the facilitation of activities on Woodlands Ward.

Main duties of the job

Play:

To assess, plan, implement and evaluate a programme of daily play, recreation and leisure activities which can be delivered flexibly and occurs naturally at all times depending on where the child/young person is i.e. play room, bedside, cubicle, Children’s Assessment Unit (CAU). To be responsible for ordering and distributing meals and drinks as necessary.

• To lead appropriate play activities to assist the child and family to understand the admission and to help familiarise the child with unfamiliar equipment, environments and routine.
• Use Normalising Play to provide basic distraction from the hospital environment
• Work flexibly with Paediatric Outpatients Play Specialist to provide Department wide cover.
• Use knowledge of Child Development through to Adulthood when selecting play, recreation and leisure activities.

• To have an understanding of the reasonable adjustments required for children with learning disabilities, including sourcing safe, appropriate play and resource activities.

• Organise activities which encourage independence and provide the opportunity for parents and patients to spend time independently of each other.
• To ensure a receptive environment within Woodlands Ward and in clinical areas for children/young people and families through the provision of displays, photos, books etc.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification. If you have any questions, please contact Nina Kapur on [email protected]