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03 December 2002

Contents Soundings:12

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John Swinton is senior lecturer in Practical Theology at Aberdeen. He has a background in nursing and served for a time in chaplaincy at Woodend and the City Hospitals and in developing a community mental health chaplaincy based at Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen. John has researched extensively in the area of spirituality and human well-being. He is currently managing a cluster of studies exploring the relationship between spirituality and health. He is a member of SACH.

Harriet Mowat is an honorary senior lecturer in Practical Theology at Aberdeen. She has a background in gerontology and sociology, having held posts at Paisley and Dundee. She also works with Spirited Scotland, a Scottish Executive funded initiative that is aimed at describing the relationship between spirituality and health in Scotland.

SACH  Soundings
 No 12 December 2002

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Meeting the spiritual needs of patients in the NHS in Scotland - the role of the hospital chaplain

The research project looking at hospital chaplaincy and the spiritual needs of patients outlined in the last SACH soundings has now begun. This involves a Team from Aberdeen University - Dr Harriet Mowat, Dr John Swinton and Clare Guest. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to have your say with regard to these issues and will involve the perspectives of chaplains, patients and staff. This is very timely with the introduction of the Scottish Executive 'Guidelines on Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the NHS in Scotland'. 
The Team will be in touch and are looking forward to working with you over the coming months. Clare Guest is a research assistant working in the School of Divinity and Religious Studies. She has a background in health sciences and social work. Clare previously worked on a project looking at patients decisions to use primary care in rural and urban areas.

Left to right: Harriet Mowat, John Swinton and Clare Guest.

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Notes from the Executive 

The Executive welcomed two new members to its meeting on 25th November: Derek Brown was elected President at our AGM in October and Stuart Macdonald became an ordinary member. (Sue Duncan, who is also a new member, wasn’t able to be there.) 

One of the main items on our agenda was a paper from Fred Coutts on the European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy (ENHCC). The Executive agreed to support the work of ENHCC and endorse the Standards Document which it has produced. At the AGM in October it was agreed to set up a new “Conference Fund” and we hope to be able to send a SACH representative to future ENHCC consultations. The next will take place in Berlin in September 2004. 

Stuart Macdonad has agreed to represent SACH on the Hospitals, Healthcare and Universities Sub-Committee and Derek Brown hopes to attend the “Chaplaincy for Tomorrow” Conference at Crieff Hydro in March (organised by the Church of Scotland’s Board of National Mission).

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