A south west NHS team and its manager has been honoured with a national award for their exceptional work to improve children’s healthcare by spreading the benefits of therapeutic play in their region and across the UK.
Project Manager Tania Sparks, from the Surgery in Children South West Operational Delivery Network (ODN), has been named Joint Protector of Play in the Starlight Health Play Awards 2025.
Her small team covers nine NHS trusts across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Swindon and Gloucestershire and is tasked with improving children’s surgical services across the south west. It aims to improve quality of care, reduce variation, and deliver best value for the NHS.
Accidental play advocate
It became an accidental advocate for the benefits of health play when it undertook research into how to decrease the number of children having MRI scans under general anaesthetic – a procedure which is routinely given to under 12s across the NHS, even when medically unnecessary.