Role Overview & Mandate
Executive Summary
Job summary Make a passion and a career come...
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Job summary
Make a passion and a career come together
Are you a qualified Play Specialist with experience of working with children or young people in a healthcare environment?
If the answer is yes then University Hospitals Birmingham Trust has the job for you!
We are seeking individuals who are passionate about play and supporting children who are attending hospital for healthcare treatment. Play is a key element of child development and ensuring that these needs are met whilst in hospital is essential.
You must have a professional attitude, be dynamic and forward thinking to join our children's directorate. As a Play specialist you will lead the development of play provisions, utilising theoretical knowledge and evidence based practice to assess, plan, implement and evaluate the therapeutic play interventions provided to all children. The play team provide a seven day service covering morning through to evening time, across Heartlands Hospital & Good Hope Hospital.
Our core vision for children and young people's services, builds on the UHB Vision and Strategy to build healthier lives, ensuring the services we provide gives children the best start in life and transition to adulthood. We strive to provide safe, high quality care to all of the children in our diverse population whilst promoting a family centred, partnership approach to care.
Main duties, tasks & skills required
Children and young people aged 0-16 years who access our services have a variety of healthcare requirements.
We have a high number of patients admitted with an acute illness and also a large cohort of patients who have a chronic illness. Our team also support children who have vulnerabilities, learning disabilities, safeguarding requirements and mental health needs. Meeting the holistic, individualised needs of all the children is an essential part of a play specialist role.
As a Play Specialist you are the expert who will deliver therapeutic play interventions to support children during medical/surgical procedures, these will be provided to meet the psychological and emotional needs of the patient.
You must be able to communicate effectively and confidently with children, young people and their families whilst demonstrating empathy and compassion.
You must have knowledge and understanding of child safeguarding issues, encourage an environment of professional curiosity and report any concerns relating to child protection issues to the nurse in charge.
In collaboration with the Senior Sister you will plan the Play Team duty roster, complete staff appraisals and support professional development plans for the team. You will assist in arranging play activities and providing entertainment for the children. Improving resources and facilities to ensure the environment is child friendly and promotes a playful, interactive experience.
About us
We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.
Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:
Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;
Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.
UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.
Job description
*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description*
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential
Foundation degree in a Healthcare Play Specialism
Documented evidence of continuing professional development.
Desirable
NHS training in Paediatric safeguarding.
Training in working with adolescents.
Food hygiene.
Manual handling.
Experience
Essential
Experience of working with children and young people.
Knowledge and understanding of child development
Experience of working with children who have learning disabilities
Experience of utilising distraction techniques
Experience of supporting children with anxieties
Experience of working in a hospital setting.
Experience of working as a team member.
Knowledge of paediatric safeguarding and confidentiality.
Knowledge of professional code of practise and its application to practise.
Experience of working with parents and extended families.
Desirable
Knowledge of issues relating to clinical governance and consent.
Experience of working with the adolescents.
Experience of working with children who have mental health issues.
Experience with teaching/training.
Additional Criteria
Essential
Play specialist skills
Skilled in utilising distraction techniques
Skilled in supporting anxious children
Ability to work with individuals and groups of children.
Effective written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work on own with limited supervision.
Able to evaluate and reflect on own practise.
To be adaptable, approachable and able to use tact, empathy and discretion.
Prepared to undertake further training.
Willing to support the development of the service.
Ability to work shifts and across all UHB sites.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
