Hello from the Play and Youth Team at Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust- we are really thrilled to be sharing our experience of Play In Hospital Week 2015 with you, especially as we got to meet and spend the day with Monkey Wellbeing.The Patient Experience is very important to us and is part of the role of the Health Play Specialist, Play Practitioner and Youth Worker, it is also important to share our skills and promote specialised play in hospital with healthcare trusts and providers. This week across the country all our colleagues were doing the same. The beginning of the week was about sharing the message and the role of the team, the work that we do in preparing children and young people for hospital procedures, how we create a non-threatening environment and why that is important, oh and how much fun we have too.
The team covers a wide area, from the Children's Wards, A&E, SCBU and Theatres, to Outpatients and Short stay wards- we also are based at 2 separate sites, Kings College, Denmark Hill, and The PRUH site, in Farnborough Kent. We had a fantastic time organising fancy dress mornings, Messy Play Activities, Crazy Play Dough Time, and face paining, as HPS's its also the quieter moments that hold a special place in our hearts- visiting a long term patient in PICU, sharing songs and a story with them, and a smile- that's our Lucozade!
We enjoyed welcoming Bonzai our fantastic Pets as Therapy Dog, and had 2 stunning concerts at the PRUH site from Music In Hospitals- with some fancy dress and cakes thrown in, and Kermit the Frog to hand out Starlight Party Bags. There were also some VIP visitors, namely MONKEY! Who spent an amazing day with us sharing all work he is doing to help and support children and young people in hospital, he met lots of nurses and doctors and children too.
It is so important to share skills and teach HCP's the many different ways a child or young person can be supported in hospital- how we explain things and the impact that has on the clinical procedures. At the PRUH site we also welcomed our VIP Kath Evans- Head of Patient Experience for Children and Young People, and Maternity Services from NHS England, Kath came to look round our inpatient children's ward, meet some of the nurses and doctors and highlight Play in Hospital Week, she also enjoyed being part of our Music In Hospitals Concert with some of the children and families.
Moments of Play and time to support and engage with children and young people is at the core of our work, and we have been thrilled to share it with many others. Our grateful thanks to Kath, Monkey Wellbeing, Starlight Foundation and Music In Hospitals.