Norma Jun-Tai (Co-Lead for Education), and Irene O’Donnell (Workforce Development Lead) at SoHPS were invited to speak at an All Party Parliamentary Group at the House of Commons this week. The focus was on Play in Healthcare Services and they presented on the work of SoHPS in raising awareness of the long and short term impact registered Health Play Specialists make to the lives of children and families across healthcare settings. They illustrated the synergy in HPS practice within the MDT through examples of current workstreams such as PSA, The National Cancer Plan and Play Well Toolkit. This was followed by excellent and impactful case studies from UCLH and GOSH. Thank you Miriam, Claire, Katie, Stephanie and Emily for sharing your work.
Please visit the link which includes all the speakers notes. You will find some very useful dataIt was a great opportunity to highlight the need for mandatory registration and regulation for the profession, real-time investment into the health play workforce and the need for national leadership within the profession to onboard the Play Well Toolkit and drive the Health Play Workforce Development strategy.

They were joined by colleagues from Starlight Children’s Foundation – Laura Walsh, and Sarah Owen to hear about the policy asks to the Government and hear directly from a young person sharing their lived experience. 

 

The meeting demonstrated that play significantly contributes to investment to save in the NHS, reducing costs of GA and admissions, increasing productivity and improving outcomes and experiences of care for BCYP.

Thank you to Tom Hayes MP who chairs the group for your support with amplifying these issues. Thanks also to our colleagues Play England, Eugene Minogue for the invitation. We work in collaboration to ensure children’s right to play is protected wherever they are, including in healthcare settings.

SoHPS invited to attend All Party Parliamentary Group at the House of Commons March 2026