Health Services: Children's Play
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department are taking steps to support the use of the Play Well Toolkit in NHS healthcare settings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The Department recognises the importance of supporting and maintaining children’s right to play in healthcare settings. Games and active play in all settings build social skills and promote children’s well-being.
To support this, in June 2025 NHS England and Starlight, a national charity for children’s play in healthcare, co-published the Play Well Toolkit. The toolkit provides guidance on best practice, and includes a checklist to support the auditing, monitoring, and evaluation of services. NHS England is promoting the Play Well toolkit to managers of health play services across a wide range of settings, including community clinics, emergency departments, children’s hospices, and acute paediatric wards.
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