Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is looking for a community gamer to improve care for adolescent patients and minimize injuries during gaming sessions.
A permanent full-time position focused on providing gaming technology to GOSH Play Teamwhich has more than 50 employees specializing in therapeutic play for children. This also ensures that each young patient has someone to play with.
Closing date for applications December 1, 2025.
“The new Gamer in Residence position has been created to meet the needs of the growing number of young people at GOSH who love to game, with a particular focus on [adolescents]”, said the GOSH Charitable Organization. GamesIndustry.biz.
“We recognized that specialist skills were needed to ensure we were meeting the needs of the hospital community. A dedicated subject matter expert will support the team to keep abreast of new trends and will work with multiple devices on offer at GOSH.”
The charity recently worked with YouTube creator Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton, whose support enabled GOSH to purchase 120 medical play carts “To help make play accessible to children in a way that complies with all infection control protocols in a hospital environment.”
Last year, Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity, together with Devolver Digital and Neonhive – launched the first permanent Gamer in Residence position in Great Britain and Ireland.
It was created after research showed that games can be extremely beneficial for young patients.
“Games can reduce anxiety, provide comfort, relieve boredom and help create a connection between hospital and home,” explains the GOSH Charity.
“Gaming can also positively influence pain perception at the central level of the brain, helping patients with chronic pain cope better with it.”
He continued: “In general, play is one way to help children continue to experience childhood even when they are in hospital receiving treatment for rare and complex diseases.”
GOSH says it was inspired by Glasgow Children's Hospital hiring its first community gamer and will be sharing its learnings as it recruits its own role.
It concludes: “Having gathered feedback from the GOSH hospital community, we believe this role will greatly benefit children and young people experiencing one of the most difficult times in their lives and is clearly linked to our focus on improving the quality of patient care.”
