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Praying nurse is reinstated
by Helen Saxbee by Ed Beavan
 Reprimanded: Nurse Caroline Petrie at her home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on Sunday PA |
| A NURSE from Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, Caroline Petrie, was reinstated yesterday after North Somerset NHS Trust overturned her suspension for offering to pray for a patient. Mrs Petrie, a community nurse who carries out home visits, was suspended without pay by her employers in December for failing to show “personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity”. She had previously been warned by the Trust after she gave a home-made prayer card to an elderly patient, and was asked to attend an equality and diversity course. Mrs Petrie, who attends a Baptist church in Milton, said she had “trouble understanding how offering to pray for someone could be upsetting. I feel it’s a nice thing to ask, and a way to give hope that circumstances can change.” In a statement issued yesterday, the Trust said it had “contacted bank nurse Caroline Petrie with a view to her returning back to work as soon as she feels able”. The Trust said that it recognised concerns that had been raised about the situation: “We feel we were right to investigate the concerns from people about Caroline’s actions. . . “However, we are keenly aware of the importance of an individual’s spiritual belief, and we recognise that Caroline felt that she was acting in the best interests of her patients. For some people of faith, prayer is seen as an integral part of health care and the healing process.” The Trust concludes that “It is acceptable to offer spiritual support as part of care when the patient asks for it. “But for nurses, whose principal role is giving nursing care, the initiative lies with the patient and not with the nurse. Nurses like Caroline do not have to set aside their faith, but personal beliefs and practices should be secondary to the needs and beliefs of the patient and the requirements of professional practice.” Mrs Petrie told reporters last night that she was unsure about the reinstatement, and wanted to know what conditions there were to her return to work. A document published by the Department of Health last month indicates that attempts by medical staff to preach to other staff or patients may be treated as harassment or intimidation under disciplinary procedures. The document, Religion or Belief: A Practical Guide for the NHS, states that “Members of some religions . . . are expected to preach and to try to convert other people. In a workplace environment this can cause many problems, as non-religious people and those from other religions or beliefs could feel harassed and intimidated by this behaviour. “To avoid misunderstandings and complaints on this issue, it should be made clear to everyone from the first day of training and/or employment, and regularly restated, that such behaviour, notwithstanding religious beliefs, could be construed as harassment under the disciplinary and grievance procedures.” Faith groups have expressed concern that the guidelines are vague, and therefore open to misinterpretation. The Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, a former Chief Nursing Officer who is now Team Rector of Sutton in Surrey, said on Tuesday that Mrs Petrie’s case highlighted the need for the NHS to equip nurses better so that they could meet the spiritual needs of patients. “Nurses have to balance a holistic care of patients, providing for both their physical and spiritual needs. But there is a tension in this model, and nurses are told how to ask questions about comfort for pain, but not told to ask questions of a spiritual nature. “The NHS needs to better support their staff in enabling them to meet the spiritual needs of patients, both staff of faith and those of no faith.” She said that the situation was a challenge to churches in the way that they helped members of the congregation who worked in the healthcare sector to work out their faith in a diverse culture. Religion or Belief: A Practical Guide for the NHS can be downloaded from www.dh.gov.uk/ |
