Leeds families now get play support at home for childhood cancer

beehiveweb.co.uk editorial team 2026-08-05 10:05 3 min read

Two children in a hospital bed engaging in therapeutic play during their cancer treatment.

Tracy West, Senior Health Play Specialist at Leeds Children’s Hospital, has been named one of this year’s joint winners of Starlight’s Health Play Innovation Award, reported by Leeds Teaching Hospitals News.

The award confirms a practical change in care: West’s outreach play service is now embedded within the hospital’s multidisciplinary team, not as an optional add-on. The role now links in-person hospital care with planned visits to family homes so support continues where children and parents are during treatment and recovery.

The service was developed after oncology staff identified a gap for families facing the most difficult parts of a cancer pathway. West worked on inpatient oncology wards and saw that children in palliative care, especially those no longer attending hospital regularly, could miss a key layer of emotional preparation. With support from Candlelighters ten years ago, she built a model that gives continuity across settings and reduces the distance between treatment plans and daily family life.

Home visits added to Leeds children’s cancer care

The approach is now used for families needing specialist emotional support over time, often through recurring visits tailored to each child’s age, treatment stage and home circumstances. That structure is designed to keep children engaged and reduce repeated anxiety during routine interventions, including hospital procedures and home observations.

Leeds families now get play support at home for childhood cancer

West said the home setting creates a familiar, safe space where children can participate more actively. The service is now positioned as a clinical support layer that sits alongside treatment, allowing staff to follow the same child-centered plan outside the ward instead of trying to recreate it during rushed hospital moments.

What families are receiving and why it matters

The service does not focus only on the child in treatment. According to the source, visits can include support for siblings, help for parents during difficult conversations, and practical school liaison when treatment disrupts routines. In more difficult times, the team can also help families create memory-making experiences while a child is alive or after death, either in the home or with funeral director support.

One detailed example is four-year-old Matilda Turner, treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Her family asked for support because she was highly anxious about port access, and routine checks often became traumatic. Across seven sessions, therapeutic play tools helped Matilda understand what was happening in treatment, including visual activities such as a body poster and health-cell models that explained chemotherapy and progress.

Her mother, Hannah, said the support helped Matilda understand her diagnosis in a way routine instructions could not. Matilda is now two years post-treatment, and her mother said she still recalls the support when describing her journey.

What the recognition could influence next

Leeds Children’s Hospital leaders said the programme has brought comfort, choice and dignity into care, and the trust hopes the recognition encourages similar family-centred models elsewhere. Laura Whelan said the work has helped families during the hardest phases of treatment and bereavement by offering practical emotional support.

Cathy Gilman framed the award as an example of compassionate healthcare innovation: not technology-first, but interventions that reduce fear and improve engagement with treatment. West also noted that wider long-term effects on NHS resources are not yet easy to measure, while still arguing the model is preventative because emotional support is delivered early and consistently rather than only in crisis.

For families in Leeds, the immediate effect is already clear: they can receive skilled play-based support wherever treatment is taking place.

Source: Leeds Teaching Hospitals News

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