Children’s therapists from Ham Clinic recently celebrated the opening of a new therapy play area, providing an outside space to carry out assessment and therapy and for children to develop, learn and have fun.

The therapy play area which has a canopy cover for rainy days, includes a range of different motivating equipment including a climbing frame and slide, mini trampolines, scooters and trikes and pretend play equipment all on soft fall flooring.

The Richmond team of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists came up with the idea to transform the disused strip of land at the back of Ham Clinic at a staff planning day more than a year ago and have worked with the Estates team to make their idea become a reality.​​​​

Claire Schneider, Paediatric Therapies Clinical Services Manager, said: “The team wanted to create a motivating environment outside, where children would look forward to coming for their therapy sessions and have fun. And we’re delighted with the outcome. I think the space is beautiful and is going to be wonderful for the children. I want to thank my wonderful therapies team who have been so enthusiastic and our Estates team who have been an absolute joy to work with and nothing was too much trouble.”

Phil Hall (Chair) and Anne Stratton (Chief Operating Officer - Community) formally opened the children’s therapy play area, assisted by visiting patient Hannah, who helped to cut the ribbon and use the slide for the first time.

George Mitchell, a Senior Physiotherapist who has already started using the play area, said: “The children love it, and it really helps with assessments. You can spot things really quickly based on how the children move around the space.”

Nick Cook, Head of Estates (Community), who has played a critical role delivering the project said: "I’m really proud of it. We’ve never done anything like this before. As a parent of an autistic child, I understand how important it is to have a dedicated space to perform assessments rather than going to a local playground which can be quite overwhelming for some children.”