Summary of the seminar held at Great Ormond St Hospital
Friday 21st November 2008

The seminar was led by two patrons of NAHPS; Dr Richard Wilson, consultant paediatrician and Peg Belson OBE (Order of the British Empire) Both Peg and Richard were asked to present this seminar due to their long history in helping to establish play in hospital in the UK and their continued contribution to the profession.

Richard Wilson has many years of service to sick children as a doctor and as a member of NAHPS, Action for Sick Children and Child Bereavement Trust to name but a few of the organisations he advises. Richard explained that as a child going into hospital he remembered the kindness of one nurse who having discovered that it was his birthday, went out and purchased a book so that he had a present to unwrap. He still has this book and it serves as a reminder that hospitalised children were once deprived of the security of their loved ones and the familiarity of play.

Peg Belson is a founder member of Action for Sick Children, formerly NAWCH. Peg is a leading member of the European Association of Children in Hospital (EACH) and NAHPS and a prolific speaker and advocate for the needs of sick children. Peg is an advisor to several countries and has recently returned from the Czech Republic.

Richard welcomed the visitors from Japan and asked what the word Play meant to them as this word carries a variety of meanings which sometimes devalues its significance. He began with an historic overview of how the profession has grown and developed in the UK

Examples from child development theorists were used to explain how essential play was to a child and viewed as important in life as food, warmth and love. Dr Hugh Jolly believed play must continue in sickness as did other influential figures such as Dr David Morris and Dr Dermod McCarthy.

Gabi Marston was the first HPS employed at the Brook Hospital by David Morris and a number of other posts quickly followed. These posts were funded by Save the Children Fund and the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital (NAWCH). Susan Harvey a Save the Children Fund advisor, Peg Belson, Richard Wilson and David Morris were involved in the earlier preparations for the development of a training course for the profession in the 1970’s and Dr Hugh Jolly became the first examiner.

From these beginnings, it was clear that HPS needed to raise their own profile and this included recording their work with children in the medical notes, attending nurse’s handover, reporting specific observations to the multi disciplinary team, taking on referrals and teaching medical students. All of these activities have helped to establish the HPS role as part of paediatric care

The Platt Report, which made 55 significant recommendations (many for improved emotional care), will be fifty years old next year and this led us to reflect upon areas of work which needed advancing. It was agreed that gaps in play services still exist in a number of accident and emergency departments and neonatal departments, therefore the HPS must to continue to raise awareness of the need to use their skills in these areas.