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My spiritual life

Posted By Tomsj38

"My spiritual life"

(as a staff member posting for a patient/service user),

Being spiritual to me means having faith in Lord Jesus Christ & our Heavenly Father who helps me when I need support.

I recently heard a talk from the General Council about fear which really hit me and related to me.

After meeting the first chaplain it took 1 year to find a chaplain from my denomination, which I think is a long time. This chaplain is good but his visits are being reduced and I think that there should be an increased budget within the chaplaincy service to allow for more visits which I feel that I need.

When a new patient comes in, I think that the chaplaincy should visit all new patients and help them to fulfil their requests & be proactive in finding suitable chaplains if required. Patients should also be kept informed about the progress of finding these suitable chaplaincy volunteers.

Peace on this Earth.

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Responses

Response from Modern Matron, St Andrew's Healthcare 8 years ago
St Andrew's Healthcare

Submitted on 15/05/2017 at 15:38
Published on Care Opinion at 15:54

I want to thank you for raising this as it is essential people of different faiths are seen by the right chaplain (forgive me if I am saying it wrong as I am not religious). I will liaise with the chaplaincy service about new admissions and how we can make this a faster and more pleasant process. I hope your faith is helping you in your recovery.

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Response from St Andrew's Healthcare 8 years ago
We have made a change
St Andrew's Healthcare

Submitted on 16/05/2017 at 13:42
Published on Care Opinion at 15:37

Thank you for sharing your story about your spiritual journey and also helpful comments about the chaplaincy service.

I am sorry that it took so long from our initial referral to your bishop to find a faith visitor from your own denomination.

The St. Andrew’s Healthcare Chaplains do try and support patients, carers and staff of all faiths and none. When requested we then make referral to your specific faith community so as to identify a suitable faith/denominational volunteer visitor. In this we are dependent on the goodwill of the faith community.

We are grateful to all volunteer visitors from the many and various faiths for the support they offer and the work they do. However, we have sometimes found it hard to identify people able and willing to visit the hospital. Faith volunteer visitors also need to go through a proper DBS and Induction process, and agree to our safe practice guidelines. This can take time.

I am pleased, however, that the regular Chaplains and the ward team were able to support you during this wait, including live streaming of the General Conference and provision of resources.

Your current volunteer visitor does have a 90 mile round trip and is able to come in to St. Andrew’s once a month. He does have responsibility (even in retirement) to other hospitals and prison and he does need to make a charge to cover his expenses. Please may I reassure you that it is not the case of a reduced Chaplaincy Budget preventing more visits but of balancing the needs of all patients, carers, staff and visitors, to the provision we have in terms of the regular employed healthcare chaplains supported by a list of faith/denominational volunteer visitors.

Your suggestion about the chaplains visiting all new patients is an excellent one and is being taken up as standard practice by all the Link Chaplains. So thank you for this.

My chaplaincy colleague would be very pleased to talk to you more and see how we might provide an even better service.


Head of Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care
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