NHS Chaplains in the news.

By Kelly Livesey @ Feb 28, 2011 in Medical Negligence

This morning I read this quote, 'the NHS spends £29 million on hospital chaplains who provide "no clinical benefit' said Jane Kirby of The Independent.

Was it not last week that the UK was debating poor care for older patients and this week that Dispatches will run a programme on Channel 4 criticising the care afforded to dying patients in the NHS?

It comes as no surprise that this data was obtained by the National Secular Society.

Whilst I have no religious beliefs myself, I can appreciate the role chaplains play in modern day healthcare. As a former nurse, I have been there in a patient's room as they lay dying and the family sought support from a chaplain, regardless of their religious background or beliefs. In my current role, as a clinical negligence paralegal, I often hear of the stress and despair patients and relatives feel if their emotional needs are not considered whilst in hospital.

Nurses and doctors often do not possess the time, skills or maybe even inclination in some cases, to devote their efforts to providing emotional support for patients and relatives.

I found a statistic which shows that the amount spent on the service is only 0.000029% of the NHS 2009/10 - spent on employing 500 whole time and 800 part-time chaplains. However, the advertised wage this week for a chaplaincy role was Band 6 on the NHS pay scale (roughly £25,000 to £35,000 per annum).

I agree that the wages could be brought more in line with similar clinical and non-clinical roles but if the service was to be abolished entirely one would need to ensure that the holistic needs of the patients are still met.

Surely, the costs of replacing this service with a secular provision would be the ultimate money wasting exercise in the middle of a recession.

Comments

#1 Terry Sanderson @ Feb 28, 2011

Might be worth your while reading the full report than just a paragraph in the Independent. You can find it at www.secularism.org.uk The NSS does not make the case for "abolishing" the chaplaincy service. Simply, as part of the "Big Society" it should be funded by charitable donations. The money saved could then be better spent on real clinical services in these times of cuts and redundancies.

#2 Roisin Metherell @ Mar 3, 2011

I can appreciate that point but surely 'change' itself is more costly for this service which constitutes such a tiny proportion of NHS funding at this time? Do you consider making chaplains redundant more acceptable than other members of staff? I think reducing redundancies across all 'hands on' staff members is the priority. Chaplains do have an impact on the wellbeing of patients which may not be measurable but should not be overlooked.

#3 Chris Swift @ Apr 5, 2011

Unfortunately the NSS report falls far short of good statistical analysis or proper consideration of what chaplains do. To take one simple example, NHS chaplains conduct what are called ‘contract funerals’ (meaning the funerals funded by the hospital for patients who die without relatives or financial resources). Where a patient’s religion is recorded the service is conducted by a minister of that religion, or a non-religious officiant. If chaplains weren’t employed by the NHS these costs would still arise – amounting to several million pounds per annum. I do not see this fact anywhere in the NSS data. In a large NHS Trust such funerals run into hundreds every year. And this is just one aspect of the work that chaplains do. I would like the NSS to identify any other nation-wide NHS service offering a professional 24/7 response (including Bank Holidays and weekends) on the level of funding they claim arises in respect of chaplaincy.

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