Contents
Contents
Apprenticeship summary
Overview of the role
Health play specialists provide therapeutic play interventions to support children from birth to young adulthood in healthcare settings.
Occupation summary
This occupation is found in hospitals, outpatient clinics, community health centres hospices, NHS, and the private and voluntary sector.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to provide therapeutic play interventions to support children from birth to young adulthood in healthcare settings, throughout their healthcare journey. Play is at the centre of a child’s life and is accepted as vital to healthy growth, development, and a natural part of childhood. Play strategies are used to support babies, children and young people to understand their medical conditions and treatments and to adopt lifestyle changes that are required to manage long term conditions. Play is the tool used to gain informed consent from children and young people and to continue this work as the child and young person’s condition improves, deteriorates, their cognition develops, to transition to adult services or end of life.
The health play specialist will assess, observe, play, evaluate and report the relationships in families, skills and behaviours of children and provide professional reports for the safeguarding process. They may be required to provide evidence in the family court. A non-judgement approach is required as children are admitted to hospitals at a time of family crisis which has resulted in an injury or significant neglect to the infant child or young person. An essential requirement of this role is professional annual re-registration with the Society of Health Play Specialists (SoHPS) demonstrating continuous professional development, practising within the scope of the Professional Standards.
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with medical professionals such as consultants, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, educational professionals, socials workers, schools, families, carers and other agencies to creative supportive environments for children and young people during their healthcare journeys.
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for the normalising, rehabilitation and therapeutic play techniques to prepare the child for medical, surgical and invasive interventions and procedures, seeking to promote informed consent. By using play as a therapeutic approach, it helps to reduce stress and fear associated with medical experiences, ultimately promoting better health outcomes and emotional resilience. Distraction and alternative focus activities provide autonomy through choice and control, augmenting the child’s coping strategies prior to and during procedures. Post procedural play supports children to make sense of health procedures and regimes. The health play specialist works collaboratively with other professionals at all times and especially when a life limiting diagnosis is made, through to end of life care.
Typical job titles include:
End-point assessment summary
ST0829, Health play specialist level 5
This is a summary of the key things that you – the apprentice and your employer need to know about your end-point assessment (EPA). You and your employer should read the EPA plan for the full details. It has information on assessment method requirements, roles and responsibilities, and re-sits and re-takes.
What is an end-point assessment and why it happens
An EPA is an assessment at the end of your apprenticeship. It will assess you against the knowledge, skills, and behaviours (KSBs) in the occupational standard. Your training will cover the KSBs. The EPA is your opportunity to show an independent assessor how well you can carry out the occupation you have been trained for.
Your employer will choose an end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) to deliver the EPA. Your employer and training provider should tell you what to expect and how to prepare for your EPA.
The length of the training for this apprenticeship is typically 24 months. The EPA period is typically 3 months.
The overall grades available for this apprenticeship are:
- fail
- pass
- merit
- distinction
When you pass the EPA, you will be awarded your apprenticeship certificate.
EPA gateway
The EPA gateway is when the EPAO checks and confirms that you have met any requirements required before you start the EPA. You will only enter the gateway when your employer says you are ready.
The gateway requirements for your EPA are:
- achieved English and mathematics qualifications in line with the apprenticeship funding rules
- for the professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence, you must submit a portfolio of evidence
- passed any other qualifications listed in the occupational standard
For the health play specialist, the qualification required is:
Foundation Degree in Health Play Specialist approved by the Society of Health Play Specialists
Assessment methods
Presentation with questions
You will produce and deliver a presentation to an independent assessor. You must submit your presentation slides and any supporting materials to the EPAO by the end of week 2 of the EPA period. The presentation and questions will last at least 60 minutes. The independent assessor will ask you at least 8 questions.
Professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence
You will have a professional discussion with an independent assessor. It will last 90 minutes. They will ask you at least 15 questions. The questions will be about certain aspects of your occupation. You need to compile a portfolio of evidence before the EPA gateway. You can use it to help answer the questions.
Who to contact for help or more information
You should speak to your employer if you have a query that relates to your job.
You should speak to your training provider if you have any questions about your training or EPA before it starts.
You should receive detailed information and support from the EPAO before the EPA starts. You should speak to them if you have any questions about your EPA once it has started.Reasonable adjustments
If you have a disability, a physical or mental health condition or other special considerations, you may be able to have a reasonable adjustment that takes this into account. You should speak to your employer, training provider and EPAO and ask them what support you can get. The EPAO will decide if an adjustment is appropriate.
Professional recognition
This apprenticeship aligns with Society of Health Play Specialists (SoHPS) for Registered HPS
Please contact the professional body for more details.
Crown copyright © 2025. You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. Visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence