Why Play Matters for our Chief Executive

The Giggle Doctors have the power to bring together people from all kinds of backgrounds. We caught up with our Chief Executive, Judi Byrne, to learn a bit more about her extensive career in the NHS and what working in the world of play means to her.

What drew you to a career in healthcare?

My story echoes that of our founder André Poulie: my younger brother was involved in a serious fire when he was ten and spent a great deal of time in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, as well as in specialist hospitals. I saw the care and dedication that the clinical teams gave, and their commitment reflected the fact that my brother lived.

When the opportunity came up to have a training role in NHS hospital management, I thought that would be a great place to start my career and it is an environment I continued to progress in. Years later, I’ve felt comfortable being in a hospital setting and I can usually support the Giggle Doctor programme from an NHS organisational and operational point of view, in a way it feels like home!

What would you say to someone just starting out in an NHS or healthcare charity career?

I think it’s a great starting point because you have a very strong structure and support around you with clear boundaries around role expectations, and development opportunities.

Anyone starting out needs to recognise that resilience is the key to success, it’s how you look after yourself as well as how you look after patients. It’s about having the stamina to keep going when there are bad days and celebrating when there are good days – of which there are many!

You’ve worked in the charity sector in hospices before, but what piqued your interest in Theodora Children’s Charity when you first heard about it?

It was the combination of NHS work and charity sector work including a foothold in hospices. My skills and experience coming together in a perfect way really.

That connection was one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around very often – I can use my knowledge of how the NHS works, who in the organisation we need to be working with, and how you approach people. When Giggle Doctor programme partners talk about their work, I can relate to them and aim to work collaboratively to create a successful relationship.

It was also an opportunity for me to develop my knowledge of paediatric services a bit more because I hadn’t been involved with paediatrics before.

Do you have a favourite Giggle Doctor memory?

After three and a half years with the charity, I have lots of fun memories of being with the Giggle Doctors. One of the key ones is my first visit to see the Giggle Doctors working in hospital. The care that Dr Bananas took with a child who was quite unwell but still wanted to play and the way in which he judged how much was right and how much engagement there was. The parents smiled the whole way through…it was a really good experience for the child and the family and a really good experience for me and motivating in terms of okay we need to do more of this!

Play is at the heart of everything we do here, so could you give me one reason why you think it’s so important for children?

Spending time with my grandchildren who are six and four, I can see that through play they are developing and learning, and particularly learning about how the world works and being able to socialise with others.

The little one is still quite shy in group situations because she couldn’t learn to play with other children during lockdown. So, the pandemic really demonstrated to me why play is so key to a child’s development.