Play Leader

at  Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

We have an exciting opportunity for a full time Play Leader to join our Therapeutic and Specialised Play Service at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
The applicant must hold a Level 3 or above qualification in Childcare and have a minimum of 2 years post qualification experience working in a childcare setting. It is preferable that you will have experience working in a healthcare setting but not essential.
The role of the Play Leader is essential to improve the hospital journey of children and young people. You will be working with patients aged 0-18yrs at their bedside or in the play/teen room delivering engaging and stimulating activities which help to reduce boredom, promote development, alleviate pain and normalise the hospital environment. We are looking for a self-motivated and dynamic person to join our team who will enjoy working in a busy healthcare setting.
Working in conjunction with the Health Play Specialist, the main duties and skills of the Play Leader are:
Creating and maintaining a safe, inclusive and stimulating environment suitable for patients aged 0-18yrs.
Using your knowledge of child development theories to promote and support play through a variety of methods including 1:1 work and group sessions.
Being able to cater activities to a patient individual needs and adapt to change.
Working with children and young people with neurodiversity and additional needs.
Provide high quality play for patients and families, supporting a family centered approach.
Promote a holistic approach in caring for a child or young person and acting as an advocate to multi professionals.
Good communication, active listening skills and the ability to be empathetic towards the child/ young persons needs.
Working within a multi-disciplinary team including youth workers, nursing and medical professions.
Ability to manage own work load and prioritise tasks.
Supporting patients on the wards whilst they are unwell. The Play Leader should have the ability to deal with challenging situations in the healthcare setting, have a degree of resilience and to be able to work in clinical areas.
Work in a professional manner and document work effectively.
MFT is England’s largest NHS Trust with a turnover of £2.6bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.
Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 28,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.
We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our brand-new Electronic Patient Record system which we’ve launched in September 2022.
We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our new Green Plan which will set out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.
At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘ Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form

Please refer the Job description for details