Play: tales of success from an NHS hospital

A lot of people have asked me if I’m going to do an episode on the importance of play.

One of the challenges of the word play is that its such a broad word and its associations aren’t always helpful when it comes to bringing everyone with us but today’s guest I think shows what an incredible thing it can be.

Heidi Edmundson is an emergency medicine consultant in the Emergency Department at the Whittington Hospital. She wrote this article in the Guardian in January: I introduced fun to the lives of A&E staff. The laughter was infectious

We explore themes of how you turn individuals into a team? This inspirational senior doctor recognised that exercises her team did on their downtime seemed to energise and inspire them – and made them more connected. I think you’ll end up wanting to read more of the theatrical exercises that Heidi used to help forge a tightly bonded team?

Here is a full guide to Forum Theatre and its games.

This goes deep – can playing games with each other be a simple way to remind ourselves of each other’s humanity where that empathy seems to be a super power that helps us do a better job?

I loved this discussion so much – you can keep up with Heidi here on her Twitter.