Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of widening the deployment of play therapy in supporting paediatric MRI scans on costs.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This involves ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.

To support this, NHS England and the charity Starlight have jointly launched the Play Well toolkit to help services identify opportunities to improve health play services. This guidance is the first publication of its kind, and is aimed at improving the experiences of babies, children, and young people.

Tools like the Play Well toolkit are intended to support best practice and reduce the need for sedation, which can contribute to better outcomes and potential cost savings. No formal assessment has yet been made of widening the deployment of play therapy in supporting paediatric MRI scans, specifically, on costs.