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Children's Play: Health Services

Asked by Tom HayesLabourDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 14 January 2026UIN 103604

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to digitise the Play Well checklist, as published in NHS England's Play Well toolkit in June 2025, to enable data-based quality improvement, monitoring, evaluation and mapping of provision.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The Department recognises the importance of supporting and maintaining children’s right to play in healthcare settings.

In June 2025, a number of Operational Delivery Networks came together to digitise the play well checklist, which is available to colleagues across the National Health Service to utilise within their services. The availability of this digital version of the checklist has been included in the content of the webinar and subsequent meetings where the Play Well toolkit is shared. It is also available on the Starlight website.

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