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Children's Play: Health Services

Asked by Tom HayesLabourDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 27 January 2026UIN 103599

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include health play professionals in the NHS workforce plan.

Answered by Karin Smyth

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This ambition is at the heart of our 10-Year Health Plan, which sets out three radical shifts: from treatment to prevention; from hospital to community; and from analogue to digital care. Ensuring that there is a robust children’s health workforce will be essential to delivering on this ambition.

We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.

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