Play Assistant

Job description

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information please refer to the job description and personal specification

• To plan and facilitate play /activities for children and adolescents in hospital. To adapt the activity to meet their developmental, medical and holistic needs.
• To plan a programme of daily activities, which is appropriate to the child and adolescent. This will be on the wards, Day care and Outpatients.
• To assist in the creation of a caring, stimulating, fun and safe environment. For the patients and their siblings.
• To support parents/carers and signpost to the appropriate member of the multi - disciplinary team.
• To plan, organise weekly activity programmes and monthly events.
• Be responsible for the maintenance, safety and cleaning of all play resources. Complying with the infection control policy and procedures.
• Establish effective communication written and verbal, with all members of the multi-disciplinary and nursing team. To attend multi-disciplinary meeting.
• To be flexible to the needs of the service and use initiative when service needs change.
• Provide written documented play plan observations as requested by the multi-disciplinary team.
• To annotate and document into the patient notes on Epic.
• To refer onto the Play Team Lead, Play Specialist if there are any concerns about a patient or their family. Also if there is the need for an aspect of the Play Specialist role to be implemented.
• On a regular basis to audit, plan, and order play resources to reflect the needs of the patient group.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NVQ Level 3 Childcare, BTEC or equivalent
• GCSE English and Maths

Experience

Essential criteria

• In the hospital setting
• Demonstrable experience of working with parents/ carers and families
• Ability to work with individuals and groups of children, adolescents and young people
• Ability to communicate and support families under stress
• Experience of working with children/young people with additional needs
• Experience of working with adolescents.

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination - What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges