Health play specialist job profile

Health play specialists use therapeutic play techniques to help children understand their medical condition, treatment and its impact on their daily life

Working mainly in hospitals, hospices and clinics, you'll organise play activities to help children prepare for operations and other clinical procedures and to work through their concerns and worries.

Your work will be underpinned by a combination of theoretical knowledge and evidence-based practice, enabling you to plan, implement, review and evaluate therapeutic play programmes that support children (from birth) and young people emotionally and developmentally.

You'll also provide support to parents, carers and the wider family, including siblings, and will offer advice on how they can use play to help their children make sense of what's happening to them.

Responsibilities

As a health play specialist you'll need to:

create a welcoming, safe and caring environment that encourages children to take part in play activities
act as an advocate for children and young people in their interactions with the healthcare team
plan and implement a range of age-appropriate play, drama, art and craft activities for children and young people, both individually and in groups
use play to help children and young people settle into life in hospital, to help them prepare for medical procedures and to help calm and distract them during these procedures, facilitating their consent and compliance
use play to help children reach developmental targets, learn new skills and relearn skills they may have lost during their illness
facilitate social interaction to help patients and their families to make friends and find support from others in the wards
observe children playing either in a dedicated playroom, in the ward or at their bedside
take individual referrals for children and families who are having difficulty coping with hospital admission and procedures or with transition to home-care or hospice
carry out and document therapeutic assessments and monitor each child's progress or regression
evaluate the effectiveness of the play interventions and review their programme of care accordingly
share your assessments and observations with other members of the health team, including speech and language therapists, doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, to support their long-term care plan
liaise with health play specialists in the community and in hospices to ensure continuity of play interventions
support families under stress and advise them on how they can use play with their children to help them cope with their diagnosis and treatment
promote the importance of play and awareness of children's emotional needs during their illness
ensure all toys and other play facilities are cleaned, maintained and stored safely.

In senior roles, you may need to:

oversee the planning, evaluation and audit of practice
manage junior staff, such as health play assistants
manage the department's budget, selecting and purchasing a range of appropriate toys for the ward/department
supervise health play specialist students on placements.

Salary

Salaries for health play assistants working in the NHS range from £20,330 to £21,777 (band 3 of the NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) Pay Rates).
Once qualified as a health play specialist, you can earn between £22,549 and £24,882 (band 4), rising to between £25,655 and £31,534 for more senior roles (band 5).
Team leads and professional leads can earn between £32,306 and £39,027 (band 6). Salaries for play service managers and clinical specialists can be in excess of this.

Salaries and conditions for jobs outside the NHS may vary.

Figures are intended as a guide only.

Working hours

You'll usually work a 37.5 hour week. Some posts include evening, weekend and bank holiday working.

Part-time jobs are available.

What to expect

You'll form part of a multidisciplinary team that includes doctors, nurses, psychologists, speech and language therapists, and occupational therapists.
The health play specialism is a relatively small profession compared with other allied health professions and the job market reflects this. The majority of job opportunities are available in large towns and cities in the UK where there are children's hospitals or larger teaching hospitals with teams of more than 20 health play specialists. In smaller towns and rural areas, there may just be one or two posts in local hospitals.
You'll need to be emotionally resilient as you'll be dealing with children in great distress and often great pain, as well as their families who may also be finding it difficult to cope. However, the job can be rewarding, as you'll use your knowledge, skills and creativity to create a safe and caring atmosphere for children and their families in hospital.
The work can be quite physical as you'll need to arrange, move and put away play equipment.
You may need to travel between hospital sites or when working in the community and doing home visits.

Qualifications

You'll need a foundation degree in healthcare play specialism and registration with the Healthcare Play Specialist Education Trust (HPSET) to work as a health play specialist. This part-time, two-year course is available at:

Courses combine theory with practice and you'll attend college one day a week, while developing the practical skills and knowledge in your hospital placement for the rest of the week.

To get a place on a course, you'll need:

a Level 3 qualification (minimum) in childcare or a related field
a minimum of two years' experience working with children (after gaining the Level 3 qualification)
GCSE maths and English at grade 4 or above (or equivalent) or Level 2 or above in literacy and numeracy
evidence of current (or recent), regular and relevant employment in the sector - either paid or voluntary
evidence of continuing professional development (CPD).

If you're not already employed in a hospital, you'll need to complete a 200-hour hospital placement each year during the course, which you'll need to arrange before it starts.

You'll also need an experienced registered play specialist who is willing to act as your work-based mentor. Contact course providers for full details on entry requirements.

It's also possible to access the foundation degree via a Level 5 health play specialist apprenticeship if you're already working in the NHS. The apprenticeship is currently available at Leeds College, Nescot and Solent University, Southampton.

You'll also need to undertake an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

It's possible to become a health play specialist as a second career, moving from areas such as education, nursing and social work.

Although not currently mandatory, most NHS employers regard HPSET registration as an essential job requirement.

In some areas of the UK there is competition for jobs, whilst in others there are low numbers of registered practitioners and employers struggle to recruit suitably qualified staff. Most graduates do, however, find employment in a hospital or other relevant setting.

Skills

You'll need to have:

the ability to build a rapport and develop relationships with children and their families
empathy, patience and tact
verbal and written communication skills, including skills in listening, observing, taking notes and record keeping
teamworking skills and the ability to work as part of a large multidisciplinary team
the ability to work independently and to prioritise your workload
organisation skills to plan and deliver play activities
general IT skills, including use of Word
creativity, energy and enthusiasm
cultural awareness and respect for the religious and cultural diversity of children and their families
a flexible approach to work in order to adapt to children's different needs
an understanding of confidentiality and safeguarding issues
health, safety and risk awareness.

Employers may also require you to have a full driving licence if working in the community.

Work experience

Relevant work experience in childcare is essential. You'll need two years' experience working with children at level 3 before you can apply to train as a health play specialist. This can be either voluntary or paid. You could get employment as a health play assistant in a hospital or clinic with a relevant childcare qualification at level 3. Experience as a nursery nurse, teaching assistant, learning mentor or youth worker may also be useful.

A background in social work, teaching or children's nursing is helpful in developing your skills. Experience of working with children and young people in art, drama music or occupational therapy is also relevant.

If you're interested in the role and want to find out more, you could try and arrange some voluntary work in a hospital alongside a registered health play specialist or ask if you can work shadow them. This will help show your commitment to the work and give you an insight into the role.

For free mentoring resources and experiences designed to support aspiring healthcare and legal professionals - including virtual work experience that is accepted by medical schools, see Medic Mentor.

Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available.

Employers

Most health play specialists are employed by the NHS. You'll typically work in a hospital in any department that has children receiving treatment. You could be based in a large play department in a children's hospital, such as Great Ormond Street Hospital or Alder Hey. Here, there are opportunities to work on children's wards covering departments such as:

adolescent health
cardiac care
day and short stay units
general medicine
infection, cancer and immunity (ICI)
intensive care
neonates
outpatients
pre-admissions
radiology
respiratory care
surgery.

Alternatively, you could be based on the ward or department of a general hospital that admits children. In these cases you're likely to work in a smaller team in children's units, intensive care units, neonatal units or outpatient clinics.

There are also opportunities to work in private hospitals, hospices, community health teams and community paediatric teams, or even with children in their homes.

Look for job vacancies at:

Although the correct title for a qualified and registered practitioner is registered health play specialist, some jobs may be advertised as 'play specialist' or 'hospital play specialist'.

You can also search for jobs on the websites of individual hospital trusts.

Professional development

Although registration with HPSET is currently voluntary, you're encouraged to register as this shows that you adhere to a code of professional conduct and are committed to continuing professional development (CPD).

You must renew your registration annually and will also need to submit a professional development profile for audit every three years.

Continuing professional development (CPD) is a vital part of continued registration and can include activities such as:

getting involved with the activities of a professional body such as NAHPS
peer discussion
attending and presenting at conferences
undertaking research
attending events and seminars
reading journals and articles and reviewing books
doing related voluntary work.

NAHPS runs a range of conferences and events for its members which provide the opportunity to develop your knowledge and professional practice, as well as to network with other professionals and find regional networking groups.

Your skills and knowledge will be enhanced through practice and team working in all areas of specialist health, for example oncology. Each area will cover many different diseases and treatment plans and you'll need to learn about how they impact on the child or young person's life and how best to meet their needs. You'll work with the multidisciplinary team and senior health colleagues to develop these skills and knowledge.

Once you have a minimum of two years' post-qualifying experience, you are eligible to train as an HPSET mentor for students.

Career prospects

Career progression is typically based on gaining experience and carrying out CPD, although some health play specialists will choose to pursue management or leadership training.

With experience, you can progress to a senior health play specialist role and then on to more senior positions such as team leader and then play service manager. You'll need to be flexible in terms of where you work and prepared to change settings to take advantage of promotion opportunities.

As you gain seniority, you're likely to have more involvement in strategic planning for the whole department and have responsibility for managing staff and budgets.

With experience and further training, there are some opportunities to move into lecturing or teaching. You could also apply to train in a related role such as a nurse, occupational therapist or speech and language therapist.

Health play specialist