SPENDING time waiting in the accident and emergency department can be a painful experience for anyone, especially young children.

But this year's festive season at Blackburn Royal Infirmary's casualty unit is set to be anything but, thanks to a groundbreaking new scheme which will see two trained children's play leaders based in the unit to deal with younger visitors.

The play leaders, who will be there to use play in a constructive way to distract youngsters from their injuries, or to help them cope with the worry of injuries to parents and carers, have been brought in in what is one of the first schemes of its kind in East Lancashire.

Gillian Slater, 20, from Accrington, and 24-year-old Vicki Wakefield from Oswaldtwistle, are the first play leaders to be based in the casualty department, although the trust already has trained play leaders in its children's departments.

Their introduction, which has coincided with the Christmas season, was made after senior sister Jillian Wild, and staff nurses Mark Hulme and Sara Barr, decided more needed to be done to cater for children.

The pair will use distraction techniques with toys to help youngsters forget their pain, and will also find play to keep youngsters occupied who visit with their parents and carers.

Their first case involved distracting a nine-year-old boy with train sets after he had been hit by a car.

Vicki said: "It wasn't nice, but dealing with children who are upset -- even because it's their first day at nursery -- is something we both learnt in our training. If a child is new to something you often have to distract them.

"You learn to do that with something they like, by asking the parents what their favourite toys are."

The pair will help redesign areas of A & E to make it more child-friendly and getting more toys for all ages for the children's play room.

They will have to deal with teenagers up to 16, so will have to provide games and activities for older children too.

But breaking new ground is partly what attracted both to the job, which had more than 20 applicants.

Gillian, who applied for the job after doing work experience with play leaders on wards 10 and 11 while at college, said: "It is really exciting because we are starting from scratch. We have got to adapt it to the way we want it. It is a bit of a challenge."

Vicki added: "The staff have all been really great and we are both really excited because it is a challenge."

They will work shift patterns worked out by Sister Jillian Wild, to fit in with research which showed when children were most likely to visit A & E.

"We see more children during the school holidays, and obviously we will see a lot during Christmas," she said.

"We are very excited by this and it is something to be really proud of. It is quite an innovative thing and it will certainly be a big help to all the A & E staff."

She added that play leader Alison Thompson, who already works for the trust, had helped set up the scheme.

The pair, whose roles are part-time, are both fully trained in childcare. They will be covering the unit throughout the festive period, including Christmas Day. Liz Hurley, clinical nurse manager of A & E, said: "We see 65,000 patients a year, 30 per cent of which are children.

"Children tend to have more injuries during the holidays, when they are not inside school."