UNLOCKING THE POWER OF PLAY

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF PLAY;
THE PLAY SPECIALIST HOLDS THE KEY

PRESS INFORMATION

Embargoed until Tuesday 27^{th June}
^{On 27th June we are launching Play in Hospital Week 2000 (PiHW) (which
runs 3rd to 9th July) to raise awareness of both the value of play for children
in hospital and highlight role of the professionals who lead it. All over the
UK, Hospital Play Specialists will be celebrating the power of play in
hospital by running events such as teddy bear clinics and fancy dress
parties, art competition and displays to promote their successful play
programmes.
But many sick and injured children still loose out in hospitals where there
are no playrooms or no trained Hospital Play Specialists. 50 years since the
first hospital play programmes demonstrated the enormous benefits of play in
hospital, why should any sick child receive anything less than first class care?
The preliminary findings of a survey undertaken especially for PiHW 2000,
which identify the inequalities in the provision of hospital play services
across the UK will be released at the press launch.
At the launch, members of the cast from the London show CATS will be
helping hospital play specialists at The Middlesex Hospital demonstrate the
power of play with the young patients there. Rumble Teazer and Mungo Jerry, the
cat burglars, have heard rumours that the play specialists hold the key.

PLAY - IT'S WHAT CHILDREN DO - EVEN IN HOSPITAL

For a child, even in hospital, play is still one of the most important
aspects of their lives. With ever increasing workloads being placed on nurses
and a growing recognition that play actually speeds recovery, there is just one
profession dedicated to delivering play to children in hospital. For many of
those who have experienced the trauma of having their dearly loved children
admitted to hospital, the government's recent nurse recruitment campaign, which
listed all those people involved in caring for a sick child, omitted one of the
most valuable members of the paediatric team, the Hospital Play Specialist.

You may think providing play in hospital is simply being there to give out
toys. But how would you reassure a child who was about to undergo a brain scan,
play with a child confined to bed with multiple fractures or even prepare a
child for a simple hospital procedure like an injection? For a child in hospital
everything is very different from being at home and most of it is either
frightening or uncomfortable, and potentially painful. The Hospital Play
Specialist is trained to help the child, and often the parents, cope with one of
the most traumatic experiences they will ever encounter - bringing a vital
degree of normality to a very different, adult, environment. Unlocking the
power of play to overcome the fear, apprehension and confusion of the child.

ENDS

For further information please contact
Judy Walker, Chairman NAHPS, e-mail [email protected]

Marcia Knight, Public Relations Manager, UCLH on 020 7380 9506

NAHPS is grateful to the British Toy and Hobby Associations' charitable

arm, The Toy Trust, for its generous support of Play in Hospital Week.

The Toy Trust was set up in 1990 by members of the British Toy & Hobby

Association with the aim of helping children in need. To date over £1.3

million has been raised for the Toy Trust. Registered as a charity, the Toy

Trust co-ordinates and organises a variety of fund-raising activities for its

members and makes donations only to charities for children.

In keeping with the international scope of the BTHA members toy business,

such help is not confined to Britain and so far both individuals and major

charities in several countries have benefited.}

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