Playwork students supporting families of children at Calderdale Royal Hospital

Amira Iqbal and Hannah Bingham, who both study Childhood Development and Playwork, help the playwork team find the right toys and distractions for some of the hospital’s youngest patients, to bring comfort and familiarity during their stay. 

The playwork team helps improve families’ experiences of hospital stays by providing opportunities to play and distractions for children undergoing medical procedures. They also offer additional support to parents and carers during their child’s inpatient care. 

Amira said: “We’ve been working here since the start of February now, and it’s really rewarding to help the patients’ and their parents’ lives easier.

“We help them get through the difficult times, through playing and distracting them. We help them get through blood tests and things like that because they’re occupied with something they enjoy, rather than something scary that they’re dealing with.”

Hannah said: “What the playwork team do is incredibly important. I’ve seen children that are not really responding to anything, just lying in bed, and then you bring them a toy they want to play with and it’s just the best thing ever. And it seems like a little thing, but it’s a big thing to them.

“We’re also there to support the parents as much as possible. A lot of the time, especially for younger children, they don’t really know what’s going on and they’re not going to remember it, but the parents will. So, it’s also about supporting them and ensuring they have everything they need.

“I didn’t realise before starting the placement that we would come into contact with parents so much. And I actually really enjoy that aspect of it. I quite like talking to people about things that aren’t hospital related in a setting where everything is medical, and offering that distraction.”

And the playwork team at the hospital have certainly welcomed the extra pairs of hands, as well as being an integral part of helping develop the play workers of the future. 

Adele Johnston-Hoosten, of Calderdale Royal Hospital’s playwork team, said: “They’ve settled in really well and they were eager to start getting on with the jobs, it’s all been really positive. 

“It’s nice to know they’re having that opportunity, to see what it’s like working on a hospital ward, and to learn about the children’s needs and likes. They’re getting that hands on experience, and then going home and reflecting on it. 

“All the staff get on with them as well. They’re confident in asking things from them, knowing that they can do the job. It’s been really nice having them in and watching them grow, because when they first started everything was very new to them and they didn’t really know where things were or how the job was going to be. And now I have the utmost confidence in them, they’re great.

“And it also allows us to work with them, training them up, so if there was a job here or somewhere else, you know that you’ve taught them the skills they need to be good at the role.”

Nicky Everett, senior lecturer in Childhood Development and Playwork, said: “Recent years have seen an expansion in the number of BA (Hons) Childhood Development and Playwork students taking on practice-based learning opportunities as playworkers in hospitals, including Great Ormond Street, Leeds General Infirmary and Calderdale Royal. 

“Our students' knowledge of play's vital importance for children's health, development, and wellbeing, has been reported by our practice-learning supervisors to have made an invaluable contribution to their team and the children they work with.  

“This development in the range of practiced-based learning opportunities available to our students has resulted in a growing number of our graduates gaining employment as play practitioners in clinical contexts.

“This is particularly timely given the wealth of emerging research demonstrating the harmful consequences for all children of a privation of play during and in the immediate aftermath of the global Covid-19 pandemic.”