Spiritual Care in NHS Grampian
Policy Ref: /GUH/ALL/POL/0017
Across NHSBoards / Organisation
Wide /
Directorate
/ Clinical Service / Sub DepartmentArea
Yes
This controlled document shall not be copied in part or whole without the express permission of the author or the author’s representative.
Review date: / 1 November 2007
Author: / Fred Coutts
Policy application: / NHS Grampian
Purpose: / To define the policy for the spiritual, pastoral and religious care which will be offered to patients, to their relatives and carers and to NHS Staff in NHS Grampian.
Responsibilities for implementation:
Organisational: / Trust Management Teams and Chief Executives
Clinical group: / Clinical Group Co-ordinators
Corporate: / Senior Managers
Departmental: / Heads of Service / Clinical Leads
Area: / Line Managers
Policy statement: / It is the responsibility of supervisory staff at all levels to ensure that their staff are working to the most up to date and relevant policies and procedures. By doing so, the quality of the services offered will be maintained, and the chances of staff making erroneous decisions which may affect patient, staff or visitor safety and comfort will be reduced.
Review: / This policy will be reviewed every 2 years.
Approved by: / Date:
Signature:
Designation:
Spiritual Care Policy Revision (Consultation Draft Oct 05)
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Principles Underlying the Service
3 Consultation and Partnership Working
4 Provision of Spiritual and Religious Care
5 Responsibilities of the Spiritual and Religious Care Service
6 Organisation and Administration of the Department of Spiritual and Religious Care
7 Appointment of Chaplains
8 Training and Development
9 Performance Management
10 Review of the Policy
Appendix 1
Glossary
Appendix 2
Consultation with stakeholders
Appendix 3
NHS Grampian Spiritual Care Committee
Appendix 4
Service Provision for Spiritual Care in NHS Grampian (May 2003)
Appendix 5
Faith Groups in NHS Grampian
Spiritual Care in NHS Grampian
The Scottish Executive Health Department issued NHS HDL (2002) 76 Spiritual Care in NHS Scotland in October 2002. This required NHS Boards to develop a spiritual care policy for the area they serve and to give direction for the delivery of spiritual care. The NHS Grampian Board approved the Spiritual Care Policy in September 2003.
NHS Grampian is committed to providing holistic healthcare which is responsive to the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs of its patients. Appropriate spiritual, pastoral and religious care [Appendix 1] will be offered to patients, their relatives and carers and to staff. This care is available to people with or without specified religious beliefs.1. Introduction
1.1Everyone, whether religious or not, needs support systems, especially in times of crisis. Many patients, relatives, carers and staff, especially those confronting serious or life threatening illness or injury, have spiritual needs and welcome spiritual care. They face ultimate questions about life and death. They search for meaning in the experience of illness. They look for help to cope with their illness and with suffering, loss, loneliness, anxiety, uncertainty, impairment, despair, anger and guilt. They are faced with ethical dilemmas which advancing technology and heightened expectations generate at the beginning and end of life. They address in depth, perhaps for the first time, the realities of their human condition.
1.2The particular needs of different faith groups within the area will be respected and access to appropriate support offered.
1.3All patients, their relatives and carers and staff have spiritual needs. Those who express their spirituality through a religious framework have the right to have those religious needs met. Spiritual care, however, is not necessarily religious and is usually given in a one-to-one relationship, being completely person-centred and makes no assumptions about personal conviction or life orientation.
1.4Healthcare staff who come into contact with patients, their relatives and carers have an important role in delivering spiritual care as part of a truly holistic approach. Spiritual care is not an added extra but should be integrated into the normal care given. Healthcare chaplains have a specialist role in supporting staff in this task and in themselves delivering spiritual, pastoral and religious care.
1.5The Spiritual Care Policy for NHS Grampian is based on the guidance offered in HDL (2002) 76 Spiritual Care in NHS Scotland. It also takes into account the local response to the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Scottish Executive Policy document Fair for All, the NHS Grampian Race Equality Scheme of September 2005, the Patient Focus, Public Involvement process (Patient Focus and Public Involvement December 2001)) and the White Paper, Partnership for Care. (March 2003)
2. Principles Underlying the Service
Spiritual and religious care should:
- Address the fundamental human need to have a sense of peace, security and hope, particularly in the context of injury, illness or loss.
- Be impartial, accessible and available at any time of day or night to people with or without specified religious beliefs.
- Respect the wide-ranging beliefs, lifestyle and cultural backgrounds of the population served by NHS Grampian.
- Ensure the rights of patients, relatives, carers and staff to be seen by a chaplain, religious leader or faith community representative when requested and equally to have their privacy respected.
- Never be imposed or used to try to win converts.
- Be a significant resource in providing holistic care which values “care” as much as “cure”.
- Be a responsibility of NHS staff working in partnership in the multi-disciplinary team with healthcare chaplains.
- Be characterised by openness, sensitivity, compassion and the capacity to make and maintain attentive, helping, supportive and caring relationships.
3. Consultation and Partnership Working
3.1Consultation took place in preparing this policy with faith communities, NHS staff, patient representatives, voluntary organisations and other stakeholders. [Appendix 2]
3.2NHS Grampian promotes partnership between its staff and local faith communities in the provision of spiritual and religious care services, in the appointment and employment of chaplains. It ensures that proper arrangements are made for the spiritual care of those who belong to faith communities whose numbers are comparatively small in Grampian and for those with no declared religious affiliation. [Appendix 5, 2001 Census; NHS Grampian Racial Equality Scheme November 2002 2.2].
3.3NHS Grampian promotes partnership in the matter of spiritual care between its service providers and partner organisations, (eg universities, local authorities and other healthcare services, such as care homes, self-help organisations, voluntary bodies) and encourages the provision of spiritual care of comparable quality to this policy.
3.4The NHS Grampian Spiritual Care supports the integrated planning, delivery and review of spiritual care services within Grampian. [Appendix 3 Spiritual Care Committee].
4. Provision of Spiritual Care
4.1Spiritual care is offered to patients, their relatives and carers and to staff.
4.2Spiritual care will be integrated into the daily provision of NHS care.
4.3Specialist spiritual, pastoral and religious care is provided by chaplains working in co-operation with other staff who come into contact with patients, their families and carers.
4.4The provision of spiritual care service is regularly reviewed in the light of current needs and national guidelines, taking into account the relative size of the various faith communities in the area. [Appendix 5 Faith Groups in NHS Grampian].
4.5Embedding a culture of spiritual care throughout NHS Grampian is an integral part of growing the culture of Patient Focus, Public Involvement throughout the organisation which requires that people are respected, treated as individuals, and involved in their own care.
- Responsibilities of the Spiritual Care Service
5.1 The responsibilities of the spiritual care service in NHS Grampian, working in partnership are:
- To identify and assess the level of need for spiritual, pastoral and religious care.
- To support staff as they provide spiritual care to patients, their relatives and carers, both in hospital and in the community.
- To participate in training programmes for clinical and non-clinical staff, students, and in staff induction.
- To offer spiritual, pastoral and religious care as part of the multi-disciplinary team by visiting, listening and supporting patients, their relatives and carers and staff.
- To offer religious ministries and acts of worship at the bedside or other appropriate places.
- To provide suitable space for worship, meditation and reflection in hospitals in NHS Grampian.
- To establish and maintain links between NHS Grampian staff and local faith communities and to facilitate confidential referral of patients, with their knowledge and agreement, to their own faith community representative.
- To contribute to healthcare service planning, development and delivery in NHS Grampian, including joint planning between healthcare and local authorities and the Joint Futures process.
6.Organisation and Administration of the Spiritual Care Service
6.1Spiritual, pastoral and religious care is delivered Grampian wide, in both hospital and community, led by the Head of Spiritual Care.
6.2The Service is supported by appropriate facilities, (eg offices, secretarial support, telephones, pagers etc.)
6.3Arrangements will be developed to ensure that patients who wish, are able to record their religious affiliation and to request a visit from a chaplain, religious leader or faith community representative.
6.4Healthcare staff will assess the spiritual needs of patients and arrange a system of referral to the chaplains when appropriate.
6.5Measurable standards of service delivery will be set, in consultation with the Spiritual Care Committee and reported on an annual basis.
7. Appointment of Chaplains
7.1As part of the multi-disciplinary team, chaplains have a specialist role in the delivery of spiritual, pastoral and religious care.
7.2A development plan has been prepared by the Head of Spiritual Care to enable the staged implementation of a well resourced Spiritual Care service when appropriate resources become available. This plan will be regularly reviewed and updated.
7.3To enable access to appropriate spiritual, pastoral and religious care for all, consultation will take place between the Head of Spiritual Care, local hospital managers, heads of service and faith communities about the appointment of chaplains.
8. Training and Development
8.1Education and training programmes in spiritual care and cultural and religious needs will be provided for staff who are in contact with patients, their relatives and carers.
8.2Appropriate supervision, training and professional development will be provided for chaplains and they may participate fully in professional and personal development and appraisal systems in NHS Grampian.
8.3Research into issues around spiritual care and chaplaincy will be encouraged and supported.
9. Performance Management
9.1Evaluation of the spiritual care service and the performance of the Head of Spiritual Care will be carried out by the Director of Corporate Communication, to monitor and assist in the development of services tailored to the needs of patients, their relatives and carers, staff and the wider organisation. Performance appraisal of other members of staff will be carried out by local managers in whose area the chaplains work, in consultation with the Head of Spiritual Care.
9.2The Spiritual Care Committee will agree an assurance framework against specific objectives and report annually to the Board.
9.3The Spiritual Care Committee will receive the annual Spiritual Care report and seek feedback from faith communities and its other constituent members.
10. Review of the Policy
This policy will be reviewed every two years.
Appendix 1
Glossary
Religious Care
Religious care is given in the context of the shared religious beliefs, values, liturgies and lifestyle of a faith community.
(HDL(2002) 76 Spiritual Care in NHS Scotland)
Spiritual Care
Spiritual care is usually given in a one-to-one relationship, is completely person-centred and makes no assumptions about personal conviction or life orientation. Spiritual care is not necessarily religious. Religious care, at its best, should always be spiritual.
(HDL(2002) 76 Spiritual Care in NHS Scotland)
Pastoral Care
Pastoral care has traditionally been used to describe the caring work of the church. In recent years the use of the term has been extended into the secular field and is commonly used in healthcare, education and other areas of practical care and support (eg pastoral counselling). Within the spiritual care context it describes the support offered to people at their most basic level of need, supporting and nurturing their spirituality. It is often very practical, characterised by openness, sensitivity, compassion and the capacity to make and maintain attentive, helping, supportive and caring relationships.
Chaplain
Chaplain is the commonly used title in the Christian faith community for those who provide spiritual, pastoral and religious care in healthcare settings. Other faith communities may wish to use other appropriate titles. In this policy, the word chaplain is used, but should be understood to include all those whose main function is to provide spiritual, pastoral and religious care.
Appendix 2
Consultation with Stakeholders
The following stakeholder groups were invited to comment on the draft revision of the Spiritual Care Policy
- Local faith groups
- Local ethnic minority groups
- NHS Grampian staff
- Community Forum and members’ networks
- Area Partnership Forum
- Area Clinical Forum
- Local Authorities
Appendix 3
NHS Grampian Spiritual Care Committee
NHS Grampian has establish a Spiritual Care Committee (which should meet at least four times a year) to support the integrated planning and delivery of spiritual care services within Grampian.
The remit of the Committee is to:
- Provide advice on and a forum for developing NHS Grampian’s spiritual care policy and overseeing its implementation and review.
- Promote the integration of spiritual care in the daily aspects of NHS care provision.
- Maintain partnership between local service providers, spiritual care staff and local faith communities.
- Provide an advisory function to those giving spiritual care.
- Oversee the process for the appointment of spiritual care staff.
- Receive the annual departmental report and seek feedback from faith communities, its constituent members etc.
Membership
Membership will comprise representatives of:
- The main faith communities in Grampian
- Patients or members of the public
- NHS staff
- Spiritual care staff and volunteers
- People without specified religious beliefs.
- The Head of Spiritual Care
- The Spiritual Care Manager appointed by NHS Grampian
- Other managers with responsibility for Spiritual
A nominee of NHS Grampian will act as convener.
(Currently Jim Royal, Chairman of NHS Grampian)
Appendix 4
Service Provision for Spiritual Care in NHS Grampian (October 2004)
Location / Hospital
/ Beds / Sessions / Chapel / RC Sessions / Scot. Episc. SessionsHead of Spiritual Care / 2
Acute HospitalsSector
ARI / 943 / 3.5 wte Chaplain
2 wte Assistant / Chapel / 1.5 / 2
AMH / 125 / Chapel
Hyperbaric Unit / 1
RACH / 72 / Chapel
Maidencraig / 16
Raeden Centre
Roxburghe House / 21 / Chapel
Woodend (Acute) / 323 / Chapel
Woodend (Primary Care) / 104
Mental Health
RCH / 359 / 1 wte Chaplain
1.5 wte Assistant / Chapel / 0.75 / 0.75
Elmwood / 24
Community Hospitals
Aberdeen City / 45 / 1
Aboyne / 19 / 1
Kincardine Community / 49 / 2.5 / 0.035
Glen O’Dee / 51 / 1.5 / 0.027
Inverurie / 67 / 1.5 / Not in use
Insch / 13 / 1
Jubilee / 51 / 1
Campbell / 26 / 1 / Not in use
Chalmers / 58 / 1
Fraserburgh / 61 / 1.5
Maud / 50 / 1
Peterhead Community / 35 / 1
Turriff / 19 / 1
Ugie / 44 / 1
Dr Gray’s / 181 / 7 / Planned / Included with other sessions
Fleming / 15 / 0.5
Leanchoil / 33 / 1
Seafield / 66 / 1.3
Stephen / 20 / 0.5
Turner / 22 / 1
Oaks / 1.14
Approved Bed Complement as at 31 March 05
Wte = Whole time equivalent
Chaplain = Whole time healthcare chaplain
Assistant = Whole time healthcare chaplain’s assistant
Session = 3.5 hours
Appendix 5
Faith Groups in NHS Grampian
(Source 2001 Census)
Figures are percentages of total population
Aberdeen / Aberdeenshire / Moray / Grampian / ScotlandCofS / 37.35 / 48.2 / 44.32 / 43.19 / 42.4
RC / 5.62 / 3.7 / 6.9 / 4.87 / 15.88
Other Christian / 7.48 / 9.54 / 13.28 / 9.33 / 6.82
Non Christian / 2.29 / 0.71 / 0.95 / 1.4 / 1.87
None / 42.43 / 33.47 / 30.63 / 36.61 / 27.55
Religion Recorded by Patients on Admission to ARI 2004-2005
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Spiritual Care Policy Revision (Consultation Draft Oct 05)