Catrin Bayliss is a health play specialist at Cardiff and Vale UHB. She writes:
As a registered health play specialist working full time on an oncology ward, my role is extremely varied, which is the thing I love most about it. No two days are the same, and the ‘plan’ is never as you’d think when you start work in the morning. A ‘normal’ day may include working with babies just a few months old, facilitating developmental play sessions in the morning, and creating a giant train track with a three-year-old. It could also mean distracting an anxious 10-year-old while they have an NG tube and then being asked to speak to a teen about hair loss or them feeling low due to all their friends posting their ‘normal’ life on Instagram. And this is all before lunchtime!
The role can be demanding, and good time management is essential, but this highlights the necessity of the role. But when you work with such a supportive, caring team like I do, days run so much smoother. Being integrated within the multi-disciplinary team helps us to achieve our goals together. We want to give the patient the best opportunities and help them to reach their full potential, even if they’re on the ward for a long period of time, which a lot of our patients are.
I am ward based, which means I meet the child or young person as soon as they arrive. I reassure patients and parents and let them know that I’m there to help them understand what’s going on, and keep them busy while they are waiting around a lot of the time. Building up this rapport and relationship in the beginning sets the foundations for the trust needed to be able to prepare patients for their lines, anaesthetics, talking about their treatment and side effects such as hairloss.
Being an advocate for the patient is something I’m very passionate about. Things happen very quickly for a child or young person when they first arrive to us, and it can be overwhelming for them. It’s my job to help them process what will happen at each stage of their treatment by communicating it in a way they can understand. This is often vital to how they react to procedures.
This past 18 months, we’ve faced the added pressure of COVID and only one parent or carer being allowed to stay with the patient at any time. This has meant my role has been more demanding, in terms of the day-to-day preparation, distraction and the need to provide a lot more reassurance and emotional support to both parents and patients.
It’s also been very important during this time to ensure families are equipped to explain things to siblings. We’ve made sure they have the tools we’d normally use - such as books, chemo ducks, Olly The Brave Lion, and tips to support talking about their brother or sister’s hospital stay – to take home. It’s been so hard for both patients and their siblings, not being able to see each other.
It’s also been really tough for the patients in that they’ve not been able to mix in playrooms and be a support to one another as they would normally pre-COVID. And it’s been a new and different challenge for us - adapting play sessions to the bedside, having to book patients into the playroom for one-to-one sessions and cleaning in between. However, it now feels normal, and the patients and their parents or carers have been hugely grateful for this time. For children and young people to have a space to relax and have some control and choice has been essential through COVID.
Hopefully, we’ll get back to having a playroom full of people making slime and having film and pizza days one day soon.
