Hospital Play Specialist

at  University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

THE POSTHOLDER WILL:

• Provide specialist knowledge and experience of hospital play to

members of the multidisciplinary team.

• Through play, help to bridge the gap between hospital and home,

thereby easing the adjustment of children and their families to a

strange and sometimes frightening environment.

• Provide interesting and stimulating play programmes for sick

children and their siblings in an effort to fulfil emotional, social and
developmental needs and help alleviate emotional trauma within
families.
Promote the emotional well being of children and young people in hospital, working across all areas of the Children’s Unit.
Organise distraction, therapeutic and creative play activities to ease the adjustment from home to hospital
and ensure continued stimulation throughout each child’s stay or visit.
Receive daily verbal reports on child’s medical condition. Adapt play to the individual needs of each child according to age, understanding and condition.
Assist with preparing children and young people for procedures/surgery, using therapeutic role play to familiarise children with strange apparatus and techniques.
Develop specific play programmes for long stay children and young people.
Provide specific support to individual children as identified by Consultant Paediatrician.
Develop supportive relationships with parents enabling them to understand the value of play within the hospital environment and encourage them to identify opportunities for parent and child to play together.
Communicate with the multidisciplinary teams especially nursing and education staff, reporting any concerns about a child to the appropriate personnel. Use play based observations to contribute to clinical discussions.
Support children attending as a day case/out patient/ward attender.
Have a knowledge of basic child protection issues and understand the procedures to follow when there is cause for concern.
We operate from three main hospitals-Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI), and Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) in Kendal, as well as a number of community healthcare premises including Millom Hospital and GP Practice, Queen Victoria Hospital in Morecambe, and Ulverston Community Health Centre.
FGH and the RLI have a range of General Hospital services, with full Emergency Departments, Critical/Coronary Care units and various Consultant-led services.
WGH provides a range of General Hospital services, together with an Urgent Treatment Centre, that can help with a range of non-life threatening conditions such as broken bones and minor illnesses.
All three main hospitals provide a range of planned care including outpatients, diagnostics, therapies, day case and inpatient surgery. In addition, a range of local outreach services and diagnostics are provided from community facilities across Morecambe Bay.

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE:

• Through the Trust appraisal process, identify and action own development needs.
• Match development plan to that of the service
• Ensure required mandatory and competency based training is kept up to date.
• Ensure awareness of when and how to report untoward incidents and complaints.
• Work within the guidance of Trust Policies and Policies and Guidelines pertinent to the Children and Young People’s Directorate .
• Actively participate in the regional play benchmarking and local audit.
• Attend and contribute to ward/departmental meetings and discussions.
• Contribute to the risk assessment process to ensure a safe environment for children.
  This job description is not exhaustive and will be reviewed and amended, with the post holder, when necessar

• Maintain reports/records in appropriate files.
• Facilitate and update the written documentation used in the Hospital Play Service.
• Update and maintain policies and guidelines for the play service.
• Organise and maintain a safe stimulating play environment within the appropriate areas.
• Through communication, and co-operation of other staff, create conditions in which play occurs naturally, whether or not the play specialist is on duty.
• Select safe, appropriate play materials for the various age groups in agreement with the ward managers/modern matron.
• Ensure that all play equipment is kept clean and maintained to a high standard, reporting any defects or hazards to the ward/dept manager.
• Be responsible for the safe storage of certain play materials which may be used only when the Play Specialist is present. To tidy away play activities at the end of each play session within the internal and external play areas.
• Supervise any Play Specialist or Nursery Nurse students who may be allocated to the department through colleges of Further Education. Assess students and complete necessary documentation/reports.
• Give talks about role of play specialist • Promote the importance of play to all professionals. • Co-ordinate pre-admission work including school visits.
• Advise other depts (e.g. A&E) re play areas and play materials