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SACH   News Sheet No 6
May 2001

Contents

• A Visit to Birmingham and Nottingham
• The Birth of a Network
• Training and Development Fund
• Registration of Chaplains
• Wishaw General Hospital
• Representing You
• Assoc of Hospice Chaplains Scottish Branch
• Scottish Training and Development Officer
• Changes in London
• Comings and Goings
• Journal
• Annual General Meeting

Pat McDonald

By Pat McDonald
Chaplain, Glasgow Royal Infirmary

Earlier this year I made a visit to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. Both visits aimed to look at how other chaplaincy teams operated and the development of pastoral care centres.
Birmingham Children’s Hospital currently has around 240 beds with the various specialities one would expect in a busy acute children’s hospital. The chaplaincy team consisted of one whole time, one half time and two others sharing three sessions. There is also a Muslim chaplain working five hours per week and the Roman Catholic chaplains had their own provision. Each chaplain has a designated area to work within although there is overlap occasionally which is important in considering on-call provision.
Three trained volunteers also work within the department and provide occasional on-call cover.
The chapel is very much “Christian” and is viewed by the chaplains as not being very user friendly because of its church image. Separate facilities are provided for those of other faiths, particularly Muslim.
Queens Medical Centre has around 1400 beds with a variety of specialities. Eight whole time chaplains look after the hospital and one other site in the mental health area. A year ago concerns about Christianity being “pushed aside” because of multi-faith provision led to steps being taken to establish regular use of the chapel as a centre for Christian worship and a multi-faith centre provided. Much use is again made of volunteers in a variety of ways.
The issue of organ retention has of course led to setting up a help-line for anxious and concerned parents and several hundred calls have been received. The Chaplain is involved in the help-line and a half study day provided for local clergy.
Two good visits raising interesting issues.

Top of Page

Sunrise at Chania

Orthodox Academy of Crete

Top of Page

As I pulled open the curtains of my bedroom, walked out on to the balcony and watched the sun rise over the Aegean Sea I reflected, “Crete in November has much to commend it!” Especially when just a couple of days before I had left behind a Scotland blasted by sleet and gales.
I attend the Sixth European Consultation for Hospital Chaplaincy at Chania in Crete as the Scottish representative. We met in the Orthodox Academy of Crete which is a modern Conference Centre in a wonderful location only a few meters from the sea, which was still warm enough for swimming! (pictures on the website!) The hospitality of the Greek Orthodox Church was wonderful, Fr Stavros, the consultation organiser, charming and efficient. And despite comments from colleagues about “holidays in the sun”, the consultation was hard work and profitable. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet people involved in organising chaplaincy from all over Europe, from Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Northern Ireland, Romania, Scotland, Spain and Sweden.

The delegates at the consultation.  Fr Stavros is centre front.  Fred Coutts is back left.

The task we set ourselves was to see what united us in hospital chaplaincy in Europe and if we could agree a European Quality Standard. Quite a challenge considering that we had gathered from so many different countries, with a wide range of understanding of what hospital or healthcare chaplaincy was about. 
Previous consultations had taken place since the first in Berlin in 1990 when ethical issues were discussed. Subsequent consultations had been in Sweden, Netherlands, Bath, Rome. James Falconer and John Thomson had been at Bath and John travelled to Rome. Each consultation had stood very much on its own with little or no continuity. Someone described the process as meeting, listening and observing how other countries approached healthcare chaplaincy but without any real commitment to joint action or association. The Chania consultation agreed that now was the time for a more formal structure and a commitment to one another as we explored what might constitute a common standard for healthcare chaplaincy and if we could establish an on-going network.
In the end, despite many long sessions we discovered something important – we were not yet ready to agree a Standards document. There were just too many models of chaplaincy in operation. We had to take a vital step backwards and agree a statement about what unites us, and go on from this base. And so the Chania Declaration was born:

The European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy

The European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy consists of representatives from Churches, Faiths and National Associations. 
It is rooted in Christianity, as expressed in European cultures.
Its purpose is to enable its participants, who serve in the area of the multidisciplinary field of health care:
to share and learn from one another.
to work for the development of professional guidelines required to minister to the existential and spiritual needs of patients, relatives and staff – a ministry drawing on personal, religious, cultural and community resources.
to promote a high quality standard in Health Care Chaplaincy in Europe.

The network is established, a website created: 
www.eurochaplains.org, a planning group will meet in the summer to prepare draft standard guidelines to be discussed at the next consultation in Finland in June 2001.

I will write in a future edition of the Journal about the consultation and its importance. But for the moment some brief reflections:

1. It is good that Scotland has been represented at these consultations and it is vital that Scottish representation continues. I would urge the SACH Executive to send a representative to the next consultation in Finland.
2. There was a remarkable unanimity among the delegates. Traditional church and theological divisions (Catholic/Protestant) were irrelevant. What did divide us was our models of hospital/healthcare chaplaincy. It is the activity of the church working in hospitals? Is it in the wider area of “spiritual care”? Is it the activity of a professional organisation or association rather than the church?
3. There are many models of preparation for and training of chaplains in the different European countries. Local variations of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) are widespread but not all pervasive. But Scotland does not come out well in training. Most of our chaplains have no training for chaplaincy at all! I hope that SACH will continue to promote the importance of training and share in any discussions about minimum training requirement for the appointment of chaplains.
4. I was able to show copies of the Journal which generated quite a bit of interest. I have given the Editors contacts in Europe and James Falconer as Business Manager has been pursuing enquiries about subscriptions.
I enjoyed and was challenged by my Cretan adventure. I now have contacts in many European Countries. Strangely, it was only in Crete that I found time to talk at length with David Equall (President of the College of Health Care Chaplains) about chaplaincy in Scotland and England; and it was because of contacts made there that I accepted an invitation to share in a Training Programme for chaplains in Northern Ireland. Incidentally, Georgina Nelson participated in the same course. Ivan Wilson (Secretary and Director of Training of the Northern Ireland Association of Healthcare Chaplains) read an article by her in the last issue of the Journal which I had given to him in Crete and immediately invited her to talk. I have also had an enquiry from a chaplain in Iceland about conferences. 
A real network is evolving! 

Keith Saunders

The Executive recently set aside £2000 as a budgeted figure for Training/Development funding with 20% of further received income being allocated to increase this fund. 
Consideration of requests from applicants for assistance with training or development projects from this fund will be scrutinised by the Executive. 
Applications should be made in writing to the Executive Secretary:
Rev Ian McDonald, Chaplain’s Office, Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, Fife KY2 5AH 
giving full relevant details of the proposed course of study and the costs involved. 
SACH seeks to uphold and promote a Chaplaincy service which is always endeavouring to raise effectiveness and quality in its delivery. By adopting such a scheme as this, we recognise the responsibility of supporting chaplains in their ongoing personal development to be equipped for this task and the high standard of ministry and service exercised.

Registration of Healthcare Chaplains

The issue of registration of Healthcare Chaplains is being explored. If you are employed as a Whole Time or Part Time Chaplain you will have received (or will soon receive) a form to complete to enable the drawing up of a voluntary register (by SACH) in the first instance and you will be kept informed of future developments.

Jim Allardyce

Law Hospital closes and the New Wishaw General Hospital opens

Jim Allardyce
Chaplain at Law Hospital

Law Hospital

The decision to replace Law Hospital with a new hospital was met with mixed feelings among staff and public. It would obviously be to everyone’s benefit, but would it also mean redundancies for staff? The position was further complicated by the decision to include in the new hospital the old Bellshill Maternity, meaning expectant mums from the Bellshill area travelling a considerable distance to Wishaw. Add to this the natural affection felt in the area for Law Hospital itself and you have a situation ripe for dissent. 
Many public meetings were held and many points of view put before the final plans were approved. The new hospital would be built in the Netherton area of Wishaw, close to the main road where there were good access facilities.
The original sign which said, “Site for the new Law Hospital” caused some reaction in the town as it was felt that the hospital was completely new and not simply a move of the old Law Hospital. A public poll held by the local press and the Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals Trust Board reflected the community feeling when the most popular name for the hospital was found to be Wishaw General Hospital.

Wishaw General Hospital

From the outset, chaplaincy was a consideration as far as the Hospital’s Trust Board was concerned. While the hospital was still in the design stage, the chaplains were invited to a meeting with the architects to discuss the layout of the church within the new building. Our suggestions were accepted, even down to moving the stained glass window which was in the church at Law Hospital and installing it in the new church, thus providing a link between the old and new.
The church is circular with the window as the centrepiece of the wall facing the entrance door. The chancel area is situated in front of the window and the seating is not fixed, allowing flexibility. The church can seat approximately sixty people, less if there are wheelchairs. Adjacent to the church there is an office and a vestry for the use of the chaplains. There is also a room designated the “Quiet Room” which will be available for use by any visiting minister who might need a place to speak to someone privately. It will also be available for use by any non - Christian groups who wish to worship and do not wish to use the church. There are two doors leading from the sanctuary allowing access to the garden in which the church is set.
The church is situated in the main corridor crossroads of the hospital, opposite reception and near the lifts. This is the most central position it could be and the proximity of the lifts is an obvious advantage from the point of view of wheelchair bound patients attending worship.
All of the chaplains at present at Law Hospital will be moving to Wishaw General Hospital, however, there are plans to establish a whole time chaplain once the move is accomplished. Such an appointment will be an advantage, as the hospital will contain approximately 650 beds as well as holding clinics and having A & E facilities. In the interim the chaplains will be able to continue their ministry among staff and patients.
In the days approaching the changeover there are bound to be some concerns among the staff as to who will be employed in the new hospital. Some staff will find themselves either in a different job or with no job at all. The chaplains have been in contact with as many staff as they could manage to see, sharing concerns and in some cases commiserating. After the move we will be available to help staff settle in to their new environment.
All in all May promises to be an exciting month with the move to Wishaw General planned for the end of the month. Those of us who have worked in Law Hospital for a number of years will miss the hospital. The layout of separate blocks has meant some very pleasant walks around the grounds in Summer going from ward to ward. By the same token it has meant some unpleasant walks in Winter! The promise of a modern up to date building with comfortable surroundings will no doubt soon dispel any feelings of nostalgia for Law Hospital, which after all was built as a wartime hospital with all the spartan elements that suggests, though it has been modernised in the intervening years. It is our hope, however, that the family atmosphere that has built up over the lifetime of the hospital will continue after we move into our new home.

SACH is currently represented on the following committees:-

• Spirituality in the NHS (Scottish Executive)
• The Race Equality Advisory Forum (Scottish Executive)
• Guidelines on Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the NHS working group (Scottish Executive)
• Clinical Resource and Audit Group (CRAG) Implementation Sub Group (Scottish Executive)
• Scottish Churches Committee on Healthcare Chaplaincy (aka “The Dunblane Committee)
• The Biennal Review Committee (Department of National Mission)
• The Hospitals, Healthcare and Universities Sub Committee (Department Of National Mission
• A member of SACH is also on the Clinical Standards Board though not officially representing SACH.

SACH is also engaged in ongoing correspondence with the Scottish Executive on matters relevant to Healthcare Chaplaincy.

At a meeting of Hospice and Palliative Care Chaplains held last October at Strathcarron Hospice, it was agreed to set up a Scottish branch of the national association. Membership is open to all chaplains working in this field and costs £20 per annum. Enquiries to the secretary, Rev Tom Gordon, Chaplain, 
Marie Curie Centre, Fairmile, Edinburgh. 
revtgordon@talk21.com

On the 21 March 2001 a very successful day entitled “Integrating Chaplaincy in Palliative Care “ was held at Huntershill in Glasgow. This was a first attempt at a multidisciplinary conference and proved to be very educational and enjoyable for all who took part and encouraged us to look forward to more such events.

Funding has now been granted by the Scottish Executive Health Department for three years to allow the employment of a National Training and Development Officer for Healthcare Chaplaincy in Scotland. (Those who are interested can view the job description on the Vacancies page of the Training Website at www.chaplains.co.uk
 SACH has been represented in all the planning stages which led to this appointment. The post was advertised in May and it hoped that interviews will take place on 11 June.
Fred Coutts, who has been acting as part time Training Officer for the past three and a half years says he is delighted that the whole time post has finally been agreed. He is looking forward to returning full time to his chaplaincy post in Aberdeen after a period of overlap and handover.

Many chaplains will have met Malcolm Masterman who was the Healthcare Chaplaincy Training and Development Officer based in London, employed by the Church of England and the College of Healthcare Chaplains. Malcolm resigned in November and has taken up a Chaplaincy post in Durham. His successor is Tim Battle.

Don’t laugh, it was with distant memories of provisional licence days and an old Honda 50 moped which I drove around before leaving school – that I decided to rekindle an interest and booked some motorcycle training.

These days you are required to have a Compulsory Basic Training Certificate – CBT – before being allowed on the road with L-plates. Although the CBT allows you to ride a bike up to 125 cc, you must go on to sit a test within a couple of years or lose your entitlement to ride. The CBT is usually done over a whole day and involves some theory classes, practical riding of the bike in the training yard and then on the road using a 125 cc. The emphasis in training is bike control, roadcraft and safety. After a long, hard day I was issued with a CBT certificate – my passport to further training!

Opting for the direct access course I now could look forward to 21 hours of practical on the bike training and five hours of theory in a small group setting. I’d timetabled the training to fit around work and days off, with a test date – Friday the 13th – at the end of the fortnight. With two days practical training on the 125 cc and the supervision of a trained (and infinitely patient) instructor, who is out with you and in constant contact via radio and an ear piece inside your helmet, some basic riding skills and confidence begin to develop. At times, like chicks following a mother hen, we drove around Kirkcaldy, stopping at various points to discuss in detail some feature of the road: positioning for junctions or roundabouts, aspects of country road riding or using the dual carriageway.

Progressing to the larger 500 cc bikes is quite a step for a novice rider. They look so big! However, with newly acquired skills fresh in mind and a respectful caution, I sat on my first “big bike” and for an hour, enjoyed a Saturday morning warm up in the training yard. I quickly discovered that instead of being harder, it was, in fact, easier to balance and control the larger bikes – due to their greater weight and lower centre of gravity. Truly bitten by this state, I have to wait a few days before getting out on the road with the 500 for the three 2-hour sessions in the second week of my training.

Again, taking it gently to begin, it didn’t take long before riding out in front for a mock test. Slowly but surely, imperceptibly at times, the pattern of continual assessment and briefings which constitute an integral part of the training, build layer upon layer of driving skill, knowledge and rider awareness:- clutch and throttle control, use of gears and brakes, shoulder checks and the essential “life saver” look behind, positioning and signals, appropriate speed for the road conditions and the need to keep a safe distance -“only a fool breaks the two second rule” and then the TEST DAY!

Thankfully, my test appointment was in the morning. The nerves of the night before gave way to an anxious resignation. A short warm up run with the instructor, a few last minute pointers for the test and I was on my own! I’d come this far – I gave it my all! The examiner, although rather formal was clear in all his instructions. Concentrating on getting round the route without major mishap, I admit I rather enjoyed (endured?) the run. Not a moment too soon though, I found myself back at the test centre and after a question on the theory of bike safety, heard the words “…….I am pleased to inform you that you have passed this test”. I still grin from ear to ear when I think about it. 

I realise there is no hope, I am hooked and now that I have a bike of my own and the sun is shining there is no stopping me! Some quite amazing new doors have also opened for me as I notice other bikes parked around the hospital and enjoy chatting with staff who regularly ride to work or run a bike at home for fun.

Retirals, resignations and appointments of whole time chaplains

Over the past few months Rev Sandra Black (Yorkhill Trust in Glasgow) and Ian Law (Trust Chaplain, Tayside Primary Care Trust) have resigned.  .
Rev Alan Stoddart retired in March from his post as chaplain at Woodend and City Hospitals in Aberdeen. May sees the retiral of Rev Derek Murray the chaplain at St Columba’s Hospice in Edinburgh.

Recent Appointments of Whole Time Chaplaincy Staff: 

• Rev Paddy Allen (Chaplain at Edenhall) has been appointed to a half time post at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
• Rev Alastair Bull and Rev Hilda Smith have taken up chaplaincy posts at Yorkhill Trust in Glasgow in April.
• Rev Pat McDonald has been appointed whole time chaplain at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
• Monica Stewart has been appointed to a whole time post of assistant chaplain at Grampian University Hospitals (based at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary)
• Rev Alison Wagstaff  took up her new position as chaplain at St Columba's Hospice in Edinburgh on 21 May 2001.
• Rev Lorna Murray joined the chaplaincy team at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in March, working half time in the hospital and half time in the community, in March.
• Rev Iain Whyte is now assistant chaplain (half time) working in mental health in the community in Lothian Primary Care Trust.
• Rev Yvonne Hendrie started work in February as chaplain working half time at Roxburghe House, Dundee.
• Rev Iain Telfer joined the chaplaincy team as whole time chaplain at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in January.
• Rev Alistair Ridland was appointed whole-time chaplain at Western General Hospital, Edinburgh last October.

Appointments Pending

• Interviews are due to take place at the end of May for the post based at Ninewells vacated by Rev Robin Rae last year. 
• A new whole time post has been created in Lothian University Hospitals Trust covering the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Liberton Hospital in Edinburgh. Interviews will take place in June.

Contents of Current Edition

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Contact the Editors

  Journal

James Falconer
Journal Business Manager and Chaplain at Grampian University Hospitals

Members should have received recently the latest edition of the Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy(Volume 4. No1 2001). Many, many thanks to David Mitchell and Georgina Nelson, co-editors, for getting the latest edition into print. We should not underestimate the enormous amount of time and work they give to the Journal. Perhaps this recently received comment sums it up, “Membership of SACH is worth it for the Journal alone.”

Two requests, however. Please think about contributing and about approaching and encouraging hospital, college and university libraries to take out a subscription. The contents of previous editions are listen on the SACH Website.  You can direct librarians to www.sach.org.uk if they would like to see the topic which have been covered in the past. Subscription information is there too and you can now order the Journal online.

Articles, on any health or chaplaincy related topic, need to follow the guidelines (as printed inside the back cover) but they don’t have to be perfect! David and Georgina are happy to receive drafts and give positive/constructive/critical/helpful comments. They are adroit at wielding a red pen but have a supply of gold stars - for when the work is done.

The number of individuals and institutions subscribing continues to grow. This is important if the Journal is to achieve its stated aims (as printed inside the front cover). To date, the Journal has been produced at very low cost. The slight profit margin built in to non-members and institutional rates will help the good house keeping of future volumes.

A Date for your diary:
SACH
AGM
Tuesday 23 October 2001
at Stirling Royal Infirmary
10.00 am to 3.00pm
it is hoped that our speaker for the afternoon session will be 
Dr Lisa Schwartz, 
Lecturer in the Department of General Practice at the University of Glasgow.
More details later.

Send material for the next News Sheet

Send material to:

Rev Jeanette Jenkins
The Ayrshire Hospice
35 Racecourse Road
Ayr
KA7 2TG

E-mail: ivanjen@lineone.net