NHS England and charity Starlight have launched the Play Well Toolkit, comprising guidelines for commissioners, recommended standards and a quality checklist for the provision of health play services.
Described by Adrian Voce, Starlight’s Head of Policy and Public Affairs as a “real milestone,” the toolkit aims to help healthcare providers to minimise the distress and anxiety experienced by children when having treatment in a hospital or hospice.
“Although therapeutic play has long been recognised in health policy, there has never before been official descriptions and measures of what good looks like for health play services, or quality improvement tools that can be used by NHS managers and decision makers. We believe these are a key to securing the funding, resources, recognition and support for children’s play in healthcare that is so badly needed,” Adrian explains.
Guidelines, standards & checklist
The guidelines for commissioning and designing health play services make it clear to NHS leaders that therapeutic play and health play services should be an integral part of all children’s healthcare.
The recommended standards for health play services are complementary with the professional standards for individual health play specialists. They define good practice for health play services through seven recommended standards and how they should be met.
The quality checklist for health play services is a practical tool for healthcare managers, designed to support auditing, monitoring and evaluation of their play services and identify priorities for improvement. It extends to issues such as cleanliness and infection control in the play area and of resources, accessibility of toys and resources and the provision of welcoming and accessible, designated play environments.
Everything to play for
The Raising the Nation Play Commission, launched in June 2024 to carry out a year-long, independent enquiry into why play is critical to the wellbeing of children, has today (June 11, 2025) published its final report.
‘Everything to Play for: A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England can Play’, sets out a vision of a country where children’s play is at the heart of government strategy and embedded across health, education, local government and beyond. It recommends a National Play strategy for England should be embedded within children’s healthcare and used as a tool to improve health outcomes and calls on the Department of Health and Social Care to recognise the importance of play in its 10-year plan for the health service.
