Policy
The current state of play
There is a wide gap in children’s healthcare between the need for play services and the levels of provision. We're working for systemic change.
71%
of healthcare providers have no budget for play
NHS Play Well Toolkit
Guidelines, recommended standards and quality checklist for commissioners, healthcare providers and professionals.
Starlight play policy
Understanding why play matters to children in healthcare.
Workforce Strategy
A workforce development strategy for play services supporting babies, children and young people in healthcare.
Taskforce on Children's Play in Healthcare
We joined NHS England to convene a taskforce exploring the issues surrounding access to play for children in hospitals, and make recommendations to improve this.
Past policy events
We're working to keep play on the agenda. We're committed to building and sharing our knowledge on the power of play.
On 23 March we held our first ever symposium, in partnership with the PEDAL (Play in Education, Development and Learning) Centre at the University of Cambridge. It featured a variety of speakers offering perspectives on the most current research, policy and practice issues for our sector.
Read our summary of proceedings from the event.
In this year of the general election, ‘Playing with Children’s Health?’ is the rallying cry of Starlight’s new, concerted, strategic campaign to persuade politicians to take children’s play more seriously.
Watch the webinar on our new policy campaign.
Download the presentation featured in the webinar.
We share a new health play workforce development strategy that was recently launched at the annual conference of Society of Health Play Specialists (SOHPS).
Watch the webinar on our new workforce development strategy.
Download the strategy featured in the webinar.
