Introduction

What services do these standards apply to?

They are designed to be used by health play services providing therapeutic play to babies, children and young people in England – and by the services within which these teams operate.

The aim is to support auditing, monitoring, and evaluation of services and ensure children and young people receive high-quality care.

The standards should be used alongside the:

• Play well: guidelines for commissioning and designing health play services
• Play well: quality checklist for health play services

How these service standards relate to professional standards

These standards apply to health play services. They are not professional standards for health play specialists. However, the standards – along with the quality checklist – have been developed in close collaboration with the Society of Health Play Specialists (SOHPS) to ensure alignment with recognised professional standards.

Applying the standards in different settings

The standards are intended to be used by managers of health play services in a wide range of healthcare environments that are accessed by children and young people – ranging from community clinics, emergency departments and children’s hospices to acute paediatric wards.

The need for play is universal and all children, regardless of the setting, benefit from access to health play service. These standards aim to support consistent, high-quality provision across all of these settings.

However, they are not one-size-fits-all and you should use judgement in applying them. Some items in the quality checklist may not be applicable in every setting and flexibility and attention to local context will make them relevant.

Recommended standards

1. We have a clear policy or standard operating procedure for play and we promote the importance of play across our service.

• Play, and supporting access to appropriate and safe play provision, is the responsibility of all staff who may encounter children in the course of their work.
• The importance of play and the role of health play staff is included in training for all staff who may encounter children in the course of their work.
• An internal policy is in place outlining children’s right to play, the specialised nature of play in healthcare, and our commitment to upholding these principles.
  or:
  We have a standard operating procedure for our play service.
• Our policy considers the play needs of children visiting adult patients.
• Our play service manager is an advocate for play and is responsible for sharing and communicating the progress and needs of the play service at trust board level.
• We have easily accessible pages on our internal and external websites containing up-to-date information about play provision, the health play service team, community play services, contact details, and referral pathways.
• Our health play staff take every opportunity to promote play within our service and with children and their families in the community.
• We regularly seek feedback from children and their families on the play provision available to them.
• We encourage and support the continued professional development (CPD) of our health play staff.
• We encourage, support and plan for health play specialist students and apprentices to be professionally mentored within our service.

2. All children have access to safe and appropriate play resources while in our care.

• Developmentally appropriate toys and play resources are available for all children we care for, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• All toys and play resources are kept clean and in a good, safe working condition and are audited regularly.
• Infection control and toy cleaning policies are adhered to and available upon request.
• All open access play areas have an up-to-date, visible cleaning rota and at least one named member of staff who is responsible for each area.
• Toys and resources are inclusive, accessible and reflect the diversity of the children we care for.

3. All children have access to play services, including qualified and registered health play specialists.

• We employ qualified and registered health play specialists to provide specialised therapeutic play interventions, including but not limited to preparation, alternative focus activities, distraction therapy and post-procedural support.
• Health play staff are employed to encourage and facilitate normalising play and recreation.
• Sufficient, appropriately qualified staff are available to meet children’s needs for play, recreation, and clinical support regardless of age, developmental stage, or state of health.
• Health play staff are available to inpatient wards 7 days a week.
• Health play staff are available to emergency departments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Consistent, facilitated play sessions are offered to children who are frequently admitted, or admitted for significant periods, and to those who frequently access outpatient or daycare settings. This includes children who receive their care in the community or a hospice setting.
• We have play and recreation programmes for all children admitted for longer stays and those who have frequent admissions. This includes those who regularly spend time in outpatient or daycare settings and children who receive care in the community or a hospice setting.
• The play and recreation needs of children admitted to isolation cubicles are considered and assessed on a daily basis.
• Children are supported to prepare for invasive procedures by a health play specialist.
• Our health play staff have access to medical areas where children would benefit from their presence. This includes anaesthetic rooms, radiology suites, nuclear medicine and other areas.
• We have a robust referral system in place for accessing support from health play specialists.
• All general and therapeutic play interventions are documented in line with trust policy.

4. Play is recognised and advocated for by all members of the multi-disciplinary team.

• Our health play staff are recognised as part of the multi-disciplinary team. This includes attending multi-disciplinary team meetings, handovers, case conferences, and safeguarding meetings.
• Our multi-disciplinary teams encourage play and adopt playful approaches to communicating with, treating, and supporting children.
• Our multi-disciplinary team work collaboratively with our health play staff to ensure that all children with complex or special educational needs, high anxiety, or poor mental health, have a health passport or ‘All About Me’ document in place.
• Our multi-disciplinary teams have access to training on the use of play in a healthcare environment.
• All multi-disciplinary team members know how to refer children and families to our health play service or a local community play team and make such referrals as appropriate.

5. Our community health play staff are recognised as an integral part of the service.

• Our hospital play team and our community health play team are in regular communication and liaise with one another as appropriate.
• We have a robust referral pathway in place to ensure that the children we care for have consistent access to play support in hospitals, hospices, and within the community (including children looked after by the local authority).
• We encourage networking and shared learning opportunities between our community- and hospital-based health play teams.

6. Our healthcare environment for children is playful, welcoming, and accessible.

• Children in inpatient settings have access to a designated play space away from their bedside 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (unless restricted due to infection control procedures).
• Inpatients aged 13 or older have access to a designated young people’s area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (unless restricted by infection control procedures).
• Our designated play spaces are safe and fully adaptable to meeting the differing needs of the children using them.
• Our health play staff have access to an appropriate and private space where they can carry out one-to-one therapeutic play sessions.
• Our health play staff have sufficient lockable storage for the safe keeping of play and therapeutic resources, ensuring our play spaces are safe and well-managed.
• We use child-friendly design principles to make the healthcare environment playful and welcoming.
• We consult children, young people, and their parents or carers when we want to design or improve a setting where children will be cared for.
• A proportion of our available outdoor space is suitable and utilised for promoting outdoor play opportunities for all children who can use it.
• We regularly use the 15 steps challenge to allow children and young people to assess and improve the child-friendliness of our environment.

7. All our health play staff are trained and qualified to the recommended level for their role, registered with their professional body wherever relevant, and supported in their continued professional development.

• Our health play staff work within role profiles aligned to Agenda for Change.
• All health play specialists are qualified for their role and registered with The Society of Health Play Specialists, or are in relevant accredited training.
• Health play staff have regular opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD) and applications for study leave are given due consideration.
• Health play staff annually record their CPD and reflective practice for their appraisal and/or professional re-registration.
• Regular reflective practice and/or clinical supervision sessions take place for our health play staff, either as a group or individually.
• All our health play staff uphold the relevant codes of conduct for their profession.

Publication reference: PRN01936_ii