From preparing kids for surgery to creating childhood moments, meet Play Specialist Jade
6 Mar 2025, 5:49 p.m.
Meet Jade. As a kid, she loved dancing, gymnastics, and playing “teachers” with her sister. She’s now a Play Specialist at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), and has worked on Panther Ward since studying for her degree.
During a hospital stay as a teenager, Jade met a Play Specialist who inspired her chosen career. “Children deserve the right to play regardless of where they are,” she says. “Unfortunately, many children are poorly, and it's important for us to protect their childhood as much as possible.”
Preparing children for surgery
Childhood shouldn’t happen in hospital. But if it has to, the GOSH Charity-funded Play team are there to help make it the best it can be.
Panther Ward, where Jade works, cares for children and young people who may need ear, nose and throat, plastic surgery or urology operations. Some of the patients Jade supports have facial palsy, a condition causing weakness or paralysis to muscles in the face.
The bulk of Jade’s work involves preparing children for procedures and having anaesthetic.
“I often meet children before their surgery and show them around Panther Ward,” she says. “Many children have a lot of anxiety, as they don't know what to expect. It's nice to meet them on the ward and introduce them to the nurses.”
“It's really rewarding when they don’t need your help anymore, and they feel confident. I love being there from beginning to end and seeing how proud they are of themselves.”
As well as her time spent on the ward, Jade often goes to the hospital’s theatres and uses distraction techniques to support children having surgery.
“If you're calm, they're calm,” she says. “And if you're confident that it's going to be okay, they follow that. It’s also about giving them back that power, which really encourages their compliance. If the patient really doesn't want to do something, you have to take a step back and say ‘okay, what can we offer them in this situation to help them complete this task?’
“It's really rewarding when they don’t need your help anymore, and they feel confident. I love being there from beginning to end and seeing how proud they are of themselves.”
Jade and GOSH patient Nathan painting at GOSH
Helping children to feel comfortable and relaxed
Jade recently supported 10-year-old Nathan who came to Panther Ward for surgery. Nathan first came to GOSH when he was 10 months old and was diagnosed with atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumour (ATRT) which is an aggressive brain tumour. Nathan received chemotherapy but unfortunately relapsed before getting better again.
Eight years later Nathan became unwell and returned to GOSH. He was diagnosed with spindle sell sarcoma which is a type of cancer affecting soft tissue often treated with surgery and chemotherapy.
During Nathan’s surgery, a tracheostomy was performed. A tracheostomy is an artificial opening into the windpipe (trachea) that is held open by a tracheostomy tube. This helps Nathan breathe more easily.
“When Nathan woke up, he didn’t know the tracheostomy was going to be there,” Jade says. “A lot of my work with him was helping him understand this tube and desensitising him to it. He had to have daily tape changes to keep his skin clean. His mum said he found that quite upsetting, so I worked really closely with her to understand what was best to help him.”
Using the Play team’s technique of adding medical equipment to cuddly toys to replicate a patient’s procedure, Jade made Nathan a little teddy that had a tracheostomy.
“He hadn’t seen his tracheostomy at this point,” she says. “Everyone was coming to do regular checks on the tracheostomy, but he couldn't understand what they were doing. It was important for him see it on the teddy and to understand that it was there to help his breathing.”
Creating childhood moments on Panther Ward
Ultimately, the Play team let kids be kids, creating special childhood moments for patients during their time at GOSH – like playing with friends, celebrating birthdays and trips to the zoo.
“For birthdays, we order a cake, get them presents, have a party and involve the family as much as possible,” Jade says. “They really want to make a big celebration of it as well. If we can, where individual medical needs allow, we organise some home leave for the day.”
Birthday parties are often celebrated in the ward’s playroom. The playroom and sensory rooms on the hospital’s wards are safe spaces for children to play, have music therapy and do school work.
“Children know it's a place where they can have fun. We find with long-term patients, they often miss out on interacting with other children. We've got a couple of long-term patients who are similar in age, so I've done a lot of work with them together. Where they would normally be going to nursery and interacting their peers, we try to create that here.”
Where it is possible, depending on the medical needs of the patient, the Play team organise outings to the park or special trips to the zoo.
“One day, we were able to take Nathan to the zoo, and that was really fun,” Jade shares.
“His brother came, too. Nathan’s mum was spending lots of time in the hospital, and his brother Ethan found it difficult being away from both of them. I wanted to create a nice family day out for them.”
Together for childhood
Serious illness can make it difficult to do all the things that should make childhood so special. But at GOSH Charity, we believe that kids should still get to be kids, no matter the circumstances.