Hospital Play Assistant

Go back East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Hospital Play Assistant

The closing date is 28 June 2026

A rare opportunity has arisen to join our friendly, professional and supportive Play Team at Colchester Hospital as a Hospital Play Assistant.

The post within the Children's Service offers the opportunity for a qualified & registered play specialist to develop their skills within a supportive environment, however, applicants who do not possess this qualification will be considered.

This is a full time position (for right candidate we will consider part time hours), working a combination of day time and evening shifts, providing play and recreational activity for individual children/groups of children of any age in the Hospital setting, helping to maintain a safe and child-focussed environment where play occurs naturally.

Please note the advert will close earlier if sufficient number of applications received.

Main duties of the job

• To meet and greet child/ family attending hospital department, maintaining good communications with children, families and other visitors to the hospital
• To organize, supervise and maintain play activities for individual / groups of children and young people in hospital, according to their individual needs and as part of the overall care plan.
• To plan a programme of daily play activities for the playroom / department in conjunction with Play Specialists
• To use knowledge of child development when selecting play activities, promoting the normal development of children by using play as development aid
• Under the guidance of /as directed by Hospital Play Specialist, to select and apply therapeutic play programmes include preparation for invasive and non-invasive procedures, distraction therapy and post procedural play
• To document play interventions.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

Find out about living and working here -

Job responsibilities

For full details of the duties and responsibilities of this role, please see attached job description & person specification.

Person Specification Experience

• Proven post qualification experience directly working with children /young people
• Experience of working as part of a team
• Documented evidence of Continuing Professional Development

Qualifications

• NNEB or NVQ Level 3 Child Care

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust