Health play specialist

This occupation is found in Hospital, Community, Hospices, NHS, Private and Voluntary Sector. The broad purpose of the occupation is Health Play Specialists (HPS) provide therapeutic play interventions for sick infants, children and young people, service users, carers and families of all ages, throughout their healthcare journey. Play strategies are used to support children and young people in the understanding of their medical conditions and treatments, to adopt life styles changes that are required to manage long term conditions. Play is the tool used to gain informed consent from children and young people and to continue this work as the child and young person’s condition improves, deteriorates, their cognition develops, to transitional to adult services or end of life.

The purpose of play and recreational provision within a healthcare environment is to facilitate access to normalising play in an appropriate and safe environment where developmental norms and goals can be achieved and maintained. Without the provision of skilled play interventions, opportunities for normal growth and development can be limited, leading to restriction or regression in development.

The HPS is a key member of the multi-professional team supporting diagnosis and treatment plans, assessing, developing and implementing complex communication plans with children and families. Communication can be verbal, written, non-verbal or technology assisted and delivered often through play and recreational techniques.

The HPS will assess, observe, play, evaluate and report the relationships in families, skills and behaviours of children and provide professional reports for the safeguarding process. They may be required to provide evidence in the family court. A non-judgement approach is required as children are admitted to hospitals at a time of family crisis which has resulted in an injury or significant neglect to the infant child or young person.

An essential requirement of this role is professional annual re-registration with the Health Care Play Specialist Education Trust (HPSET) demonstrating continuous professional development, practising within the scope of the Professional Code of Conduct and Professional Occupational Standards.. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with Health Play Specialists interact on a daily basis with:

• Consultants
• Doctors
• Nurses
• Theatre Nurses and Operating Department Technicians
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational Therapists
• Educational Psychologists
• Medical Professionals
• Educational Professionals
• Safeguarding Teams
• Social Workers
• Children Centres
• Speech and Language Therapist
• Dietician
• Charities
• Schools
• Chaplaincy
• Service users
• Carers and families
• and other AHP.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for providing therapeutic play techniques to prepare the child for medical, surgical and invasive interventions and procedures, seeking to promote informed consent. Distraction and alternative focus activities provide autonomy through choice and control, augmenting the child’s coping strategies prior to and during procedures. Post procedural play supports children to make sense of health procedures and regimes. The HPS works collaboratively with other professionals at all times and especially when a life limiting diagnosis is made; through to end of life care.

Examples of common work activities include:

• Carrying out continuous assessments and observations of a child’s developmental level in order to inform planning and short and long term interventions
• The HPS uses their expertise to assess, plan, implement and evaluate play strategies putting the needs of children and young people and service users first
• The HPS works with the infant and child to address differentials in child development lost or missed as a result of a medical condition for example graduate neonatal infants, long term ventilated children, complex long term conditions
• The HPS will agree with the child, young people and family, any specific interventions to ensure the child’s views are understood and to act as an advocate for the child
• To adapt play activities and share skills and knowledge with families on new ways of playing as a result of trauma or restrictions on individual’s access to play
• The HPS will be responsible for the management of budgets, including resources and staff. There will be management of play assistants and mentoring of newly qualified practitioners and students. Specific HPSET training and registration requirements must be met to be able to mentor play specialist students on the higher apprenticeship. Sharing of knowledge and skills is a key requirements of the role with other health professionals and students from all disciplines and families
• Close working relationships are required with professionals working in agencies outside of the healthcare environment to enable to child to be fully incorporated back into their education and social environments
• Counselling skills including active listening and a non-judgemental approach
• Children’s psychology differs from that of adults and changes as they grow and develop. Children experience a different range of diseases and disorders to those commonly seen in adults, including mental health conditions. This includes a higher proportion of rare, often complex congenital and inherited disorders
• HPS’s are trained to work with children from birth to young adults throughout their health care journey. Play is at the centre of a healthy child’s life. Throughout their health care journey play and recreation are important tools to help the child or young person to make sense of this situation
• The HPS have the ability to provide a safe therapeutic and healing environment for babies, infants, children, young people and families
• The HPS provide appropriate therapeutic play and recreational activities recognising that normal development is at risk from delay or regression as a result of the impact of the health care journey
• The HPS recognises that without the provision of supervised play environment play opportunities can be limited leading to restriction or regression in normal development in all age groups
• Your scope of practice is the areas of work in which you have the knowledge, skills and experience to practise lawfully, safely and effectively, in a way that protects the public and yourself from any danger
• Through the interactions with children, families and carers they will record and share with those that need to know their observations relating to neglect and/or other forms of safeguarding concerns.