Play Specialist

Hospital Play Specialist (Core), Starship Children's Health

• Starship - New Zealand’s premier children’s hospital
• Permanent (fulltime or partime) role available
• Great professional development opportunity

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is firmly grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to building a health system that serves all New Zealanders.

About the role

The Hospital Play Specialists work with all age groups supporting infants, children and young people to become confident and competent learners within the context of their hospital experience. With a strong educational and psycho-social framework that supports whānau involvement, we facilitate children’s continued development and their ability to cope successfully with challenges related to their hospital visit.

You may find us normalising the hospital visit in a play space, familiarising children with medical equipment or procedures, supporting children during procedures such as blood tests, or developing and practicing coping strategies to manage tough times. This role is challenging but very rewarding when working with children, their whānau and our wider multidisciplinary team.

About the Service

The Starship play specialists, who are highly-trained education experts, work alongside nurses, doctors and allied health professionals (such as dietitians, physios and psychologists) to support children in hospital. This might be with children and their whānau at the child’s bedside, in a playroom, in a treatment room or in the Children’s Emergency Department (CED).

About you

We welcome applications from those with:

• A recognised early childhood teaching qualification (mandatory- Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) or equivalent.
• Registration and certification with the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Experience working as a teacher or support worker within the health or education sectors.
• Eligibility to gain registration with the Hospital Play Specialist Association Registration Council.
• Please note that while we work with all age groups these roles are related to hospital-based Early Childhood Services and require ECE qualified teachers.

For further details, please refer to the Position Description here. 

For more information about this role please contact the Hiring Manager, Nicola Woollaston via NWoollaston@adhb.govt.nz

Working at Health New Zealand

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities. 

Starship Child Health is a dedicated paediatric healthcare service and major teaching centre, providing family centred care to neonates, children and young people throughout New Zealand and the South Pacific. Starship is a part of Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora and is the only comprehensive children’s hospital in New Zealand serving a population of approximately 1 million children.

How to apply

We’ll be reviewing applications and conducting interviews as they come in, so the position may close before the listed deadline. If you're interested, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

To apply please click on the ‘Apply’ tab below, outlining your experience and motivation to apply to this role and attaching your updated CV and Covering Letter.

If you have any accessibility or technical issues with the online process, please contact Anél Foord, Recruitment Consultant at Anel.Foord@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz quoting ADHB22810 to discuss how we can best support your application.