CHAPLAINCY services have been cut in 40 per cent of English NHS
hospitals since 2009, new research suggests.
Of the 163 trusts contacted by BBC local radio, 39 per cent had
fewer chaplains in 2013 than in 2009. Almost half (47 per cent) had
fewer chaplaincy hours, contributing to an overall 8.5-per-cent
fall in the total chaplaincy hours available in hospitals.
Eight trusts have cut chaplains by at least half. The ten at
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have been reduced to five.
One quarter of trusts have increased chaplaincy hours. Seven
have more than doubled their chaplains. Birmingham Women's NHS
Foundation Trust now employs seven, compared with two in 2009.
Researchers also asked the trusts whether chaplains who had left
in the past five years had been replaced. One third (36 per cent)
said that the posts had not been filled, while 46 per cent (53 of
114) confirmed that, where the post had been filled, the occupants
were on a lower pay band or working fewer hours.
A spokesperson from NHS England told the BBC: "There is no
statutory requirement for hospitals to provide chaplaincy services,
unlike prisons and the armed services. However, healthcare
chaplaincy has been part of the services available to patients
since the inception of the NHS.
"Locally, NHS trusts are responsible for delivering religious
and spiritual care in a way that meets the diverse needs of their
patients. Precisely how they do this is a matter for local
determination.
"Since responsibility for the service has been transferred to
NHS England we are currently reviewing the service. However, it is
still a matter for individual trusts and faith leaders as to the
level of service provided."
On Thursday, the Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Revd James Newcome,
the Church of England's lead bishop on healthcare, said that the
situation was "not entirely a bad one" - the greatest cuts had
happened in a limited number of trusts - but that any additional
cuts "would place a huge burden on existing chaplains, who are
already very hard-pressed, and could have all sorts of unforseen
consequences for the NHS itself".
Bishop Newcome said that funding chaplaincy cost the NHS less
than 0.1 per cent of its overall budget, and that cutting posts or
hours substantially would be "disastrous for the proper holistic
care of patients, staff, and families". Chaplains recruited and
managed thousands of volunteers to provide a 24-hour service every
year to NHS trusts, and were "the only people in the NHS who have
the training and the time to deal with some of the things that
matter most to people".
He quoted research suggesting that 90 per cent of nurses
believed that chaplaincy care made a "significant difference to the
speed with which people recover", and that about 15 per cent of
hospital patients had "specific religious needs".
The Revd Rachel Bennett, lead chaplain at Western Sussex
Hospitals NHS Trust, said that the Trust was "coping well" in a
time of fiscal restraint. The BBC research suggests that the number
of chaplains at the Trust has been cut from three to one, but Ms
Bennett explained that five sessional chaplains were employed
part-time, and their combined hours almost made up those of two
full-time chaplains. This was an "imaginative way of ensuring that
you continue to provide really good care".
The Trust was "absolutely committed" to chaplaincy services, she
said: "It's not just the role we have in caring for patients but
the resource we offer to the wider trust, and to staff . . . I am
blessed that I am in a trust that sees the value, and it's not
unusual for doctors to stop me in the corridor and just say 'Thank
you for all you are doing for my patients.'"
Last year, the General Synod carried a motion affirming the part
played by chaplains in the NHS and calling on the Government to
"ensure that chaplaincy provision remains part of the core
structure of a National Health Service committed to physical,
mental and spiritual health" (News, 17 February 2012).
A staff reporter writes:
Why does the NHS employ chaplains?
- NHS has been committed to holistic care from its
inception
- Faith is important in society (and increasingly
appreciated to be so)
- They serve ALL the staff and patients in a specialised
community - like school chapains, prison chaplains, and forces'
chaplains
- Therefore they have specialised expertise - they know
something about 'the patient pathway' and the hospital
environment
- They are immediately available in a crisis, and able to
work with patients at their moment of need
- Few patients know how to contact a faith leader, or is
in a hospital near one, or has one who is available to visit, or
can visit at appropriate times, or who knows how to be with a
patient in hospital, or knows how to liaise with staff,
etc.
Why doesn't the Church pay?
- The Church does pay. It trains all Christian chaplains
at college/seminary, plus parish training, on-going supervision,
clinical supervision, continuing professional development and
support
- But the chaplain is accountable to his or her NHS
trust, and meets NHS requirements in terms of employment criteria
and training - and so, like all other specialists, is employed by
the NHS
Why just Christian chaplains?
- The NHS does employ chaplains of other faiths where the
patient population warrants it
- Jesus's mandate is to be universally inclusive and
loving. This theology explicitly allows Christians to work for and
on behalf of all people, of all faiths and none. So even where a
chaplaincy is lead by Christians, or has only a Christian, the
service can serve all people
- Christian chaplains recruit volunteer chaplains from
all faiths, and facilitate the religious observances of all staff
and patients. They will be the point of information for doctors and
nurses and dieticians about the medical implications of Ramadan,
for instance
Is chaplaincy just for the religious?
- No. NHS chaplains meet all human need, wherever they
meet it
- Chaplains take many funerals, including of humanists,
deal with bereavement and grief, help people with infant deaths,
counsel people who are dying, and support staff with the pressures
and grief they carry
- They also advise the staff on matters of religious
observance, ethics, theological questions
Not many patients are religious
nowadays
- Not true: most people give a religious affiliation on
their admissions form
- Besides which, it's not really about religion.
Chaplains addressing people's ultimate concerns from a standpoint
of confidence, calm, love, respect and rigorous intellectual
training - in a way that few other personnel in a hospital are
able
But aren't chaplains just too
expensive?
- It's difficult to quantify, because so much of what
chaplains do is intangible
- Good preventative care around trauma, illness, pain and
death is known to save the NHS a lot of money, because these things
leave a legacy of further illnesses
- Less stress in hospital means less pain control, better
recovery, lower drug intake, and quicker and better discharge
outcomes
And compassion is important
- There have been unwelcome reports recently that
compassion is lacking in nurses
- Compassion can't be quantified or taught, but can be
seen and felt
- Compassion can be modelled and cultivated. It has its
roots in a spiritual attitude to people that sees them as more than
case-studies or bodies in beds, or diseases to be
treated
- The NHS's commitment to chaplains is one important
marker of its commitment to giving holistic care