Health Play Specialist

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Qualified and Registered Health Play Specialist, Band 5 ( to join our dynamic Play and Youth Team in the Department of Child Health, led by a Team Co-Coordinator. Additionally, the successful candidate will form an integral part of the Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Unit (POSCU) multidisciplinary team, working alongside them to support children and young people with a diagnosis of cancer.

This is an exciting and challenging role where you can apply your skills in providing therapeutic play, preparation, distraction therapy and normalised play to children and young people with cancer, providing a varied and stimulating programme; ensuring children and young people are distracted and continue to focus on normalised and familiar activities.

You should have excellent communications skills, requiring a high degree of empathy, understanding, diplomacy, honesty, integrity and sensitivity. You will need to have experience of working well within a multi-disciplinary team, maintaining confidentiality throughout. You must be able to accurately document all patient interventions on the patient's records., To manage and be responsible in using theoretical knowledge and evidence-based practice to assess, plan, implement and evaluate therapeutic play interventions which encompass the development and emotional needs of CYP. (This includes distraction. and preparations techniques including chemotherapy).

To ensure that patient records and activity data are maintained contemporaneously in accordance with Professional and Trust standards.

To plan and implement individual therapeutic play programmes to include preparation for invasive and non-invasive procedures, distraction therapy and post procedural play,

To empathise with and provide and/or facilitate emotional support to parents, carers and siblings during times of stress or crisis, such as at a time of medical diagnosis or bereavement.

To establish effective communication, both verbal and written, with all members of the multi-disciplinary team and other agencies

To work as a member of the multi-disciplinary team, contributing to patient treatment/care plans.

To provide play-based observations to influence and support the overall assessment of CYP.

To contribute to the development of protocols, standards (including cancer standards), guidelines and competencies for the department and devise standards for the Play and Youth service.

You will need the Health Play Specialist qualification and be a registered Health Play Specialist with HPSET and have experience in working with young people (ages 0 - 18 years), as well as individual, groups and multi-agency work. You will need an understanding of the differing needs of patients with additional and special needs.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of £1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reachis our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King's to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.