children

Inpatients >> Play Specialists

The hospital play specialists aim to provide emotional and developmental support to children and their families in the hospital environment. We appreciate that hospital admission can be stressful; sights, sounds, smells and medical procedures will be strange and will be sources of fear. We aim to give children a means to express their feelings and the opportunity to continue their development. We hope to create a sense of normality through play.

There is a play-room on Ward 5 for all paediatric patients, which provides comfort and familiarity for your child.

The hospital play specialists believe play not only makes a hospital stay more bearable, it can also make it shorter. It is important that your child understands why they are coming into hospital. We appreciate that explaining this can be difficult. We are in the hospital each weekday, from 8.00am to 4.00pm. We would be delighted to talk to you before your child's admission and we are keen to offer support during and after his/her stay.

During a child's hospital stay our role is to:

Normalisation by promoting a child friendly environment and giving children the opportunity to continue experiencing familiarity and aiding normal development.
Prepare children for surgery and medical procedures through therapeutic medical play using special dolls, stuffed animals, medical equipment and photo-books.
Distract children from painful/stressful medical procedures to minimise the possibility of negative impact from the procedure.
Post-operational play gives children an opportunity to act out an experience that may have felt overwhelming to them.
Family support to reduce anxieties of the patient's brothers and sisters. Hospital play specialists can also help parents maintain their care-giving roles by promoting parent/child play sessions and by sharing strategies for comforting their children during medical procedures. Such as the recommendation of reading lists and specific toys.
Development of play programmes for those children who are long term patients (5 days or more). Play programmes will be prepared as it is important that children carry on their normal development during their hospital stay.