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Contents Soundings:  9

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SACH  Soundings
 No 9 March 2002

Jim Takes over

Congratulations to Jim Allardyce who has taken over as convener of the Dunblane based Scottish Churches Committee on Health Care Chaplaincy. Jim is part-time chaplain at the new Wishaw General Hospital and a minister of the United Reformed Church. He is also a member of the SACH Executive.

The Scottish Churches Committee on Health Care Chaplaincy (SCCHCC) met at Scottish Churches House, Dunblane on Tuesday, 12 February 2002. One item of business which caused some debate was the application in some areas of the Data Protection Act. Some Trusts are implementing a policy of "need to know" as far as information on patients in hospital is concerned. This means that in many cases chaplains will not be allowed access to admissions lists, or at best will only be allowed to know of patients who have indicated that they have no objection to a visit from a chaplain. At worst, a chaplain could be at the receiving end of a complaint if he/she unwittingly approached a patient who had indicated that they did not wish to see a chaplain. The committee expressed its concern about this and will continue to monitor the situation.

With the appointment of Revd Chris Levison as Chaplaincy Training and Development Officer the committee felt that a great deal of it's raison d'etre may have been fulfilled, thus the main topic of business at the meeting on 12 February was the future role of the committee. This could have been a quite emotive discussion, but in the event it turned out to be quite lively. What came through very clearly was that the members felt that there was indeed a place, and an important place, for a committee to be concerned with faith issues in the NHS.

Part of the meeting was taken up by Chris who outlined his remit as Training and Development Officer and spoke of his plans to hold meetings with the chaplains throughout the country. He also touched on the fact that all Health Boards/Trusts would be asked by the Scottish Executive to produce new Spiritual Care Policies over the next year. A Policy Development Officer is to be appointed to join the Training and Development Officer in expediting this.

In regard to the future of the SCCHCC it was felt that the committee might take on some of the responsibility for appointing chaplains. Given the number of Faith Communities other than Christian in our society today, it was felt that the make up of the committee should reflect this. The first steps in this direction have already been taken, and it is hoped that a close working relationship with other faiths will ensue. 

There was a suggestion that SCCHCC could be a network within a re-shaped ACTS, thus able to align itself with other similar networks as and when the need for co-operation arose. This is certainly a possibility and well worth considering. It may be, however, that as Health Boards and Trusts define their approach to Spiritual Care in the NHS the committee will more clearly see its function in that area. The flexibility which is so characteristic of Health Care Chaplaincy in adapting to the varying demands of a developing Health Service can surely also apply to SCCHCC as a representative body for chaplaincy.

Jim Allardyce
Chaplain
Wishaw General Hospital