Hospital Chaplain

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Job overview

An opportunity has arisen to join the Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy team at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The post-holder will contribute to delivering high-quality spiritual, pastoral and religious care over five hospital sites to patients, carers, families and staff often dealing with highly emotive situations. You will be part of a team of chaplains working across the Trust to deliver a 24/7 on-call service. As well as supporting staff and patients at times of need you will also be an advocate for spiritual care, liaise with faith leaders, supervise chaplaincy volunteers/students and contribute to educational opportunities to teaching sessions for staff and volunteers.

Main duties of the job

You will work as part of the spiritual care and chaplaincy team at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on a daily basis. Within the service you will share responsibility for ensuring the provision of spiritual, pastoral and religious care across all trust sites including appropriate rites, ceremonies and events to support both staff and patients. You will be part of the 24/7 trust-wide on-call rota and be able to respond within the Trust standard. There will be opportunities to contribute to service projects to improve and develop the delivery of spiritual care and chaplaincy within the Trust.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites. We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To be part of the spiritual care and chaplaincy service and provide routine pastoral, religious and spiritual care to patients, their families, volunteers and staff during normal working hours.
• To respond to urgent calls during normal working hours. This will often involve offering support in emotionally difficult and challenging situations.
• To offer support to patients, and their families as they approach the end of life and offer bereavement support as required.
• To work flexibly and be part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• To support parents, and those important to them, following a pregnancy or baby loss. To be able to offer ongoing support and, where appropriate, services appropriate to the needs of the family.
• To actively participate in and sometimes lead the "Our Babies" month service for early pregnancy loss.
• To be available to participate in the spiritual care and chaplaincy service 24/7 on call service which is offered in significant life changing situations and can be demanding and emotionally challenging.
• To plan and lead funerals which the Trust is responsible for providing.
• To participate in the planning and leading of some of the annual services and events that the spiritual care and chaplaincy service plans and leads, including the adult and the baby and child memorial service.
• To be a key part of the spiritual care and chaplaincy team and support other team members.
• To represent the chaplaincy and spiritual care service at various meetings within the Trust. Such as the End-of-Life Steering Group, Patient Experience Council, Faith Consultation Group, Dementia and Delirium Steering Group and Organ Donation Group) and present reports as required.
• To provide supervision to spiritual care and chaplaincy volunteers and bank/on-call chaplains in their day-to-day duties.

Communication and relationships

• To be able to provide and receive complex and sensitive information
• Where appropriate liaise with representatives of local faith communities.
• To ensure all who are referred to the service are supported by a person-centred approach and ensure support is offered in a timely and dignified manner, regardless of their personal belief or lifestyle choices.
• To treat any information gained through the spiritual care and chaplaincy role in accordance with Trust policy with absolute confidentiality, unless there is a lawful requirement to inform other agencies.
• To work in accordance with the UK Board of Health Care Chaplaincy Professional Code of Conduct

Analysis and judgement

• To be able to assess urgent and non-urgent referrals and respond accordingly. In a pastoral situation to be able to assess the needs of patients and those important to them and deliver appropriate pastoral, spiritual and, as required, religious support.

Planning and organisation

• To ensure that detailed records are kept securely of patient contact and information.
• To attend, support and plan service meetings and other meetings as required.
• To participate in the activities of the chaplaincy and spiritual care and chaplaincy service, as appropriate and under the direction of the Spiritual Care Lead.
• Contribute to the maintenance and provision of Trust sanctuaries and public areas set aside for spiritual, religious or pastoral practice and expression.

Physical skills

• To be able participate in 24/7 on call across all hospital sites.

Policy & service development / implementation

• To support in the ongoing developments of the spiritual care and chaplaincy service.
• Contribute to the development of underpinning polices, standard operational procedures and service information.
• Finance
• To keep accurate records of work done, call out times and travel claims, submitting these in a timely manner for approval.

Staff / HR / Leadership / Training

• To maintain own responsibility in keeping the required mandatory training up to date.
• Contribute to the education and training of healthcare professionals and volunteers in spiritual care practices.
• Be active in the maintenance of own spiritual traditions and maintain good standing within own faith (licencing/authorising) body.
• Actively maintain and contribute to own appraisal, essential training, continuing professional development (CPD), and personal and departmental objectives.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• A member of good standing within a member Church of Churches Together in Great Britain and Ireland.
• Educated to degree level in a relevant subject area.

Desirable criteria

• Ordained minister from a member church of Churches Together in Great Britain and Ireland.
• A qualification or training in pastoral care, counselling or hospital chaplaincy.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Be able to demonstrate relevant experience.
• Awareness of ethical issues relating to the healthcare setting.
• An understanding of current healthcare issues.
• Experience of chaplaincy work, ideally in a healthcare setting.
• Knowledge of a range of religions and faiths.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to use pastoral and listening skills to assess situations quickly.
• Able to work effectively in a multi faith team.
• To contribute to the development of good practice within the service.
• Ability to analyse and use initiative in sometimes highly emotive pastoral situations.
• Ability to communicate with and offer spiritual, religious and pastoral care to a wide variety of people.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Essential criteria

• Competence at general administrative tasks, including word processing and digital record keeping.
• Ability to work independently, deciding when to refer to manager, plan daily activities and own workload.

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification.

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