Hospital Chaplain

Job overview

We are looking for an enthusiastic, highly motivated and experienced healthcare chaplain with a track record of providing spiritual, pastoral and religious care (SPaRC) in an NHS healthcare setting. This role will involve supporting the development, delivery and implementation of the Trust’s Spiritual Care Policy.

You will be a Trust resource providing specialist knowledge and expertise on matters relating to spiritual and religious beliefs, pastoral and ethical issues. You will always seek to uphold the Trust values of Excellent, Kind and Together.

This role requires working across the Trust in clinical and non-clinical areas with patients, staff and visitors. It includes responding to referrals and being a proactive presence on the wards. You will provide a flexible, responsive service of spiritual, pastoral, and religious care to patients, visitors and staff whatever their beliefs, culture or lifestyle.

Working as a team; with your Chaplaincy colleagues, alongside internal Trust staff and with external faith and belief communities you will provide high quality SPaRC care.

As part of the 24/7 provision that the Chaplaincy Service provides you will work across a 7 day a week rota providing an on-site chaplaincy presence; (core hours 08:30-16:30) with emergency out of hour on-call; (16:30-08:30) from home.

Main duties of the job

The chaplain supports the development, delivery and implementation of the Trust’s Spiritual Care Policy which provides spiritual, pastoral and religious care to patients, staff and visitors of UHNM Trust.

The Chaplain provides high quality pastoral, spiritual and religious care to service users of all faith and beliefs.

The Chaplain provides specialist knowledge and expertise in matters relating to spiritual and religious beliefs, experiences, practices and ethical issues.

The chaplain contributes to a high quality of bereavement care being provided by the Trust.

The chaplain supports the development of sustainable and creative relationships between their own faith/belief community and the UHNM Trust.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Areas/Tasks

• Contribute to the effective working of the Spiritual and Pastoral Care team:
• Respond to referral by assessing the pastoral, spiritual and religious needs. Where the assessed needs require a religious response that is different from the Chaplain's, the Chaplain will refer to an appropriate staff Chaplain or a representative from the individual’s faith community or belief group.
• Ensure good communication and collaboration with all members of the Chaplaincy Department.  Follow established procedures and policies.
• To share in the provision of 24-hour on-call cover; making decisions using own initiative about spiritual needs in crisis situations; responding to emergency calls in week and weekend night-times while meeting the required response time. This dimension includes responsibility for putting the opening phases of the UHNM Major Incident Plan into action for Spiritual, Pastoral and Religious Care when required.
• Share in the daytime duty rota (8:30am to16:30pm).  Receive and respond to referrals from members of the healthcare team.  To visit wards and departments on a regular basis during daytime hours.  Share in the maintenance of the spaces for prayer and reflection and the provision of resources for worship and spiritual expression.
• Assist in the planning of the work of Chaplaincy Volunteers.
• Participate in projects and operational groups as directed by the Lead
• Chaplain.
• Prepare and disseminate briefing material, reports and liturgical material as
• directed by the Lead Chaplain.
• Assist with Chaplaincy service developments, including Major Incident
• planning and implementation.
• Be an affirming and supportive presence within the Trust.
• Contribute to audit and research within Chaplaincy practice.
• Provide pastoral and spiritual care:
• Assess spiritual health and wellbeing needs, develop spiritual care plans, and keep written and electronic records.
• Manage referrals and determine a timely response.
• Maintain confidentiality and obtain informed consent.
• Provide or facilitate spiritual and pastoral care sensitive to the cultural, faith and belief realities of the diversity of service users, including identifying language needs and accessing interpreting services.
• Protect individuals from all unwanted visits, including visits from faith community or belief group representatives, and communicate this to third parties as appropriate.
• Maintain effective and consistent links with designated clinical areas.
• Work collaboratively alongside other professionals of all bands.
• Articulate need on behalf of an individual when required.
• Provide or facilitate religious care:
• Deliver ritual consistent with one’s own faith or belief tradition.
• Devise, co-ordinate and lead ritual to meet needs (e.g., memorial services for staff; bespoke ceremonies for those who have experienced an early pregnancy loss.)
• Perform ritual interventions connected with crisis according to the needs of users and consistent with the permissions and practice of one’s own faith or belief community (e.g., the baptism of seriously ill babies; the sacrament of the sick.)
• Conduct Trust funerals.
• Organise rites and sacraments that cannot be undertaken by the post holder to be administered by a suitable colleague or community faith/belief leader.
• Make referrals to appropriate faith/belief leaders and community ministers of religion at the patient’s request and with their consent.
• Establish effective links with faith/belief leaders in the community.
• Record all assessments and interventions in Trust information systems.
• Assist in maintaining an accessible and high-quality provision of resources for worship and spiritual expression appropriate to the diversity of users of all faiths and none.
• Provide support for staff:
• Model working relationships that respect the integrity of others. Schedule time for staff support.
• Assess and respond to staff pastoral and spiritual needs (individual or collective.)
• Respect confidence in responding to requests for personal support from members of staff and volunteers.
• Maintain awareness of issues, changes and conditions that may affect staff wellbeing.
• Collaborate with other relevant departments in promoting staff wellbeing.
• Identify other sources of staff support and, with consent, facilitate referral.
• Providing training and education:
• Identify the learning needs of self and others.
• Contribute to the planning and delivery of learning opportunities.
• Contribute to the selection, training and supervision of Trust Chaplaincy Volunteers.
• Train and oversee trainee chaplains and pastoral care placement students.
• Contribute to Trust and/or Departmental Induction Programme for new staff.
• Present education and training sessions to a variety of internal and external groups as directed by the Lead Chaplain