Helen Walters, Senior Public Health Practitioner, CTMUHB Public Health Team
Clare Ibbs, Lead Nurse Quality Improvement Children and Families, CTMUHB
Marianne Mannello, Assistant Director: Policy, Support and Advocacy, Play Wales
Play in healthcare has many benefits for children and families. Including:
To improve understanding of the current play provision for child inpatients to CTMUHB district general hospitals.
To understand the role of play in the paediatric inpatient setting from the perspectives of staff, families, and children, identifying opportunities for improvement
Commission Play Wales to design and conduct the service evaluation using the COM-B Model. Collect data: observations, questionnaires, discussions
Analyse data to highlight strengths, challenges, and alignment with Play Wales principles, generating key service recommendations
Use findings to guide phased improvements to play services in CTMUHB
87 people engaged with (29 parents, 33 staff, 25 children)
All children valued having staff who supported their play. Parents ranked ‘staff to help’ as very important to help children to play and relax in hospital.
“We got to play hide and seek when it was quiet”
“My son was limited as he was on oxygen. There was a lot of effort from staff to make sure he wasn’t bored”
Staff view hospital playrooms as important, with all noting they were missed when closed due to Covid-19 restrictions
“We spent as much time as we could in the playroom—it was good to have space to play”
All children surveyed reported that they enjoy having access to a range of equipment both in the playroom and at bedside.
“I liked playing with messy paints”
“The distraction toys helped my child relax”
The service evaluation identified several recommendations, shown below, to strengthen play provision across CTM. Despite limited specialist play staff, a ‘permission to play’ culture exists across the sites, with motivated staff in various roles providing opportunities for children to play and ensuring access to space and resources.