Deputy Head of Play - Play Specialists

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent children's hospital in London seeks a Deputy Head of Play to oversee a team of Health Play Specialists. This role focuses on enhancing patient experiences for children and young people through therapeutic play interventions. The ideal candidate will hold an NNEB or NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and have substantial experience in a similar role. Competitive salary and full-time position offered.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 2 years post-qualifying experience as a Health Play Specialist.
• Experience in creating opportunities for Health Play Specialists.
• Training and mentoring skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage Health Play Specialist team and enhance patient experiences.
• Support the equitable provision of therapeutic play interventions.
• Supervise and guide apprentices and students in practice placements.

Skills

Team management

Excellent communication

Autonomy in service development

Knowledge of child development

IT skills

Education

NNEB or NVQ Level 3 in Childcare

Registered Health Play Specialist

Tools

Word

Excel

Teams

Job description

Go back Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Deputy Head of Play - Play Specialists

The closing date is 23 October 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Play Management Team as one of the Deputy Head's of Play.

We are seeking a passionate individual to join our team to manage and develop a large team of Health Play Specialists taking an active role in improving the patient experience for babies, children and young people.

The postholder must be a qualified Health Play Specialist registered with SOHPS and at least 2 years post qualifying experience.

Main duties of the job

Working alongside the Head of Play Services and the Play Management Team you will:

Ensure the Health Play Specialist team provide a welcoming, safe and secure environment where culturally diverse populations' needs are being represented throughout the service.

Support the development of an equitable provision of therapeutic play interventions throughout the Trust,mindful of the need to engage all children and young people and adapt a service to meet them at their point of need.

Be responsible for the management of Health Play Specialists within team as delegated by the Head of Play Service.

Take an active role in improving care pathways and patient experience for children, young people and their families.

Supervise, assess and guide mentors for Health Play Specialist apprentices and students on practice placement.

Liaise with GOSH Charity to evidence impact of the service and provide qualitative and quantitative evidence of impact.

Continually learn and develop yourself, contributing to a learning culture in the team.

About us

We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as the communities we serve, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including people with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic heritage, people with a disability, and people from LGBTQ+ communities. By growing an ever more diverse workforce, we'll have a greater range of perspectives and knowledge, meaning that we can provide the children and young people at our hospital with even better care.

Our hospital is committed to creating an environment that is open and inclusive. Our staff are encouraged to engage with colleagues through the following networks: REACH (Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage) ENABLED (Enhancing Abilities & Leveraging Disabilities Network), PRIDE and Women's networks; all of which are sponsored by a member of our Executive Management Team.

We want to ensure that all of our people, regardless of their background, are seen and heard. We want to attract applicants that share our commitment to inclusion and that understand diversity is a strength that is embraced and valued.

Job responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents please view the attachment/s below.

Person Specification

GOSH Culture and Values

• Our Always Values
• Basic Secondary Education up to 5 GCSEs at grades A-C/ 9-4 or beyond, including English and Maths
• NNEB or NVQ Level 3in Childcare or equivalent understanding of the principles of play work
• Management training and development
• Evidence of ongoing dynamic and continuing development, registered with SOHPS
• Recruiting and Interviewing Skills
• Line Management Skills

Experience/Knowledge

• Substantial post qualifying experience of working as a Health Play Specialist .
• In -depth theoretical knowledge of child development, the principles of play in hospital and the range of interventions offered by Health Play Specialists to minimise hospital trauma, through normalising play sessions and access to play experiences etc.
• Experience of working in an environment with children and/or young people/ young adults
• Detailed knowledge of best practice Professional code of conduct and its application in practice
• Knowledge of health legislation - guidelines and standards and its application in practice.
• Experience in creating opportunities for Health Play Specialists, working alongside education leads within the trust and external education colleges and universities.
• Training and mentoring, sharing skills and teaching peers and healthcare colleagues, mentoring and assessing students.
• Knowledge and understanding of diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
• Research and data collection - evidencing practice and auditing.
• Experience of co -creation of services with patients and working with outside agencies and partners.
• Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance, health and safety, safeguarding, risk assessment and infection control.
• Awareness of diversity, cultural and religious pathways and policies.
• Team management and leadership experience, supporting and developing the role of the Health Play Specialist trust wide.
• Experience of evidencing the role to charity partners.

Skills/Abilities

• Experience of undertaking therapeutic assessments of children and young people - supporting play workers with planning and MDT involvement
• Ability to work autonomously to discuss, plan, develop and implement training, and service development, whilst looking at service needs.
• Excellent verbal, communication and organisation skills. Excellent IT and presentation skills, and a good working knowledge of Word, Excel and Teams.
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to formulate and share sensitive information with the team and work together to address issues and challenges.
• Able to evaluate the effectiveness of play plans and play strategies- developing the role of the play worker within the wider MDT.
• Effective time management skills and ability to prioritise workload.
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance
• To co-create the service with input from the children and young people and to change and diversify when required to suit the needs of the patients
• Ability to collate data, and present findings.
• IT Skills
• Ability to identify pertinent ethical issues and provide guidance

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.

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

£46,419 to £55,046 a yearper annum inclusive

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

271-NPE-7430562

Job locations

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children