Play Assistant

Royal Marsden; Greater London; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Play Assistant to join the OCCYP play team. You will support children, adolescents and young people undergoing cancer treatment across the Oak Centre for Children and Young People.

You will plan and deliver play activities on wards and in day care, work with the multi-disciplinary team and support families.

Experience in hospital settings and working with young people is desirable; NVQ 3/GCSEs are preferred.

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 3 Childcare, BTEC or equivalent required.
• GCSE English and Maths required.
• Experience in a hospital setting and working with children/young people is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Work as a member of the play team to provide play/ activities for paediatric and adolescent patients.
• To provide a quality and holistic play service for all children and their families across the OCCYP unit.
• To ensure all children and adolescents have access to the play service whilst at the hospital.
• To work with the multi disciplinary team in providing holistic care to all patients and their family.
• Plan and facilitate play/activities on wards, Day care and Outpatients.
• Maintain, safety and cleaning of play resources; comply with infection control policy.

Education

NVQ Level 3 Childcare, BTEC or equivalent

GCSE English and Maths

Job description

We are seeking a Play Assistant with hospital experience to join our play team. The successful applicant will support children, adolescents and young people undergoing treatment for cancer within the Oak Centre For Children and Young People.

Experience of working with adolescents and young people is desirable.

Main duties of the job

• Work as a member of the play team to provide play/ activities for paediatric and adolescent patients. The Play Assistant will be expected to work on the McElwain / TYA ward and all areas of OCCYP.
• To provide a quality and holistic play service for all children and their families across the OCCYP unit. This would be in the play areas and also at the bedside.
• To ensure all children and adolescents have the access to the play service whilst at the hospital.
• To work with the multi disciplinary team in providing holistic care to all patients and their family.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

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

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

Experience

• 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

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.