another option would be to go to camp like camp america but that would mean leaving home

As part of my NNEB I did a placement at Hull Royal Infirmary - they had a fab playroom that nobody used as the nursery nurse worked more in the nursing part of it I had a ball and by the end of the placement we had loads of children in it every day! Im sure its much better now as we understand the importance of play + Im talking about 1984ish!!

Ive already left home! I'm 37 years and old fairly new to playwork. I used to be a childminder and have also worked in nurserys but dont want to work in those settings anymore. I find that personally playwork is much more up my street.

Play
 

Hi Dawn, Sally & Someone Special

I've just read your posts and really pleased to see you are considering hospital play work.

I'm a qualified hospital play specialists, and I'd love to help in any way I can with info and stuff.

Did any of you read the post I put under the "People & Staffing" heading about Regional Networking Groups??

I know there are groups operating in that area of the country, maybe you could go along to one of their meetings to find out more about hospital play.

You may also find the info on these websites useful:

Hospital Play Staff Education Trust www.hpset.org.uk

National Association of Hospital Play Staff (NAHPS) www.nahps.org.uk

Hello Hattyhar,
Great to hear from you. I'm still interested in hospital playwork but it seems people who work in hospitals are nursery nurses and not playworkers. I spoke to someone at Hull Royal Infirmary for info but she just told me to look at the website for any vacancies so I'm none the wiser. I'm starting my NVQ Playwork level 3 in January.
Any advice would be great.

Hospital Playwork
 

Dear Dawn

Please, please don't be put off, there are nursery nurse postions in hospitals as well as play workers but they are both employed to do very different roles.

Nursery nurses are employed to do much more of the care side, which tends to include making up bottle feeds, feeding babies and children, changing nappies, dressing & undressing, bathing etc

However there are more and more roles for play workers all the time, playwork in hospitals is a growing profession with much goverment guidance backing it up. I have worked in the hospital play profession for ten years and sit on the Executive Committee for the National Association of Hospital Play Staff (NAHPS), and it is it is a really exciting and rewarding profession to be involved in.

Hospital Play Staff teams are normally lead by qualified Hospital Play Specialists and there are usually also positions in these teams for Play Workers, also called Play Leaders or Play Assistants who work under the guidance of the Hospital Play Specialists. You are right, the NHS jobs website (www.jobs.nhs.uk) is not always easy to use or comes up with the positions you are looking for. I would try typing in the words "Play Assistant" or "Play Specialist" and see what comes up. It is still worth looking at the postions that come up saying Play Specialist, because although I know you are not a qualified Play Specialist, because there is a bit of a shortage of qualified Play Specialists in some areas of the country, the in the job description and job specification it may say something like "qualified play specialist or person holding Level 3 in early years, playwork or nursery nursing, and willingness to undertake play specialists qualification.

For info about this area I would suggest you visit the National Association of Hospital Play Staff website www.nahps.org.uk and consider joining, membership cost £20 per year for Associate Membership, and would really help you.

Have you looked at your choices for Level 3 Option Units for Playwork NVQ yet?? If you want me to suggest which units would be best in you wanted to go into hospital playwork, I could make some suggestions.

Harriet :wave:

Hospital Play Jobs
 

Hi

I have just had a look on the NHS Jobs website, to see what jobs are posted up there at the moment.

When I typed in "Play Specialist" in the Key words section under the Quick Search, I came up with 5 jobs.

3 jobs were for a Play Specialist (2 of these jobs said in the Person Specification that the post holder had to hold a Level 3 and hold the Play Specialist qualification was desirable - which is because there is a lack of qualified play specialists)

1 jobs was for a bank Play Worker

1 job was for a Play Leader ( Play worker & Play Leader are two different names for the same job)

There were however many, many other jobs that came up under this search, which is because when you type it "Play Specialist" it come up with any job that has both the words "Play" & "Specialist" in their job description, so unfotunately you have to wade throught all the non relivant jobs to find the ones that you want.

Good luck

Harriet :wave:

Hi hattyhar, yes I would appreciate any advice on which options I should choose which would benefit me towards hospital playwork.
Thanks
dawn:thumbsup:

NVQ L3 Playwork Option Units
 

Hi Dawn

I have had a good lokk through all the option units, and I would suggest that the best ones to take would be:

Unit 407 (PW12) Respond to concerns about possible child abuse

Unit 408 (PW13) Contribute to children's health and well-being

Unit 409 (PW14) Work with parents and carers

Unit 412 (B227) Contribute to evaluating, developing and promoting services

Hope this is helpful.

Are you still doing your NVQ L2 in Playwork or have you already finished it??

Harriet :wave:

Hello Harriet,
Ive just about finished my level 2. I've got through it ever so quickly (7 months). Should have it finished by September.
I'm going to start my level 3 in January. I start a new job in a after school club in September as a deputy co-ordinator so I definately need to do my level 3.
Thanks for the the advice on the option units. That will be helpful and they sound interesting.
I've just done a level 2 course, Child Protection Theories. I thought it would widen my knowledge on child abuse even further.
Dawn:wave: