| SACH Scottish Association of Chaplains in Healthcare |
 |
|
|
|
SACH
Soundings Contents
No one else is going to do this for usThe stirring words of the Declaration of Arbroath, “ It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself ”; and the more measured tone of an American Declaration some centuries later, “ When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another”, can be summed up in the words of a four year old child I heard the other day. “I can do it myself.” Truly the most simple and direct declaration of independence you are ever likely to hear. It's a mark of the child's growing sense of who she is and the beginnings of autonomy and self determination that elicits such a response to the task of piercing a carton of juice with a straw. The sense of achievement and pride in having carried out this action is immense even allowing for the puddle of apple juice on the floor, for in her eagerness to display her manual dexterity she squeezed the carton too hard. And so we begin to learn that maturity brings with it a sense of responsibility for our actions. The reason I'm having such deep thoughts is the comparison I drew between the wee girl and her apple juice and the current state of healthcare chaplaincy. As a profession we chaplains are but mere fledglings but we have reached the point where we have a degree of confidence in our burgeoning maturity. Enough to say, “We can do this ourselves.” That in essence is what all the work in competencies and standards, codes of conduct, self- regulation and the like is saying, although couched in the inspiring language of Declaration. The revision of the 2002 HDL which will be discussed this month is another sign that we have journeyed far in a mere six years. The fine words, though, need to be put into practice. Declarations are one thing, delivery is another. At a local level, how do we continue to provide the highest quality spiritual and religious care at the bedside while conforming to the regulatory framework? At a national level, how do we demonstrate to the NHS and the wider public that what we do is cost effective, and more importantly, a highly efficacious resource? At an international level, how can we share best practice with other organizations facing similar issues and challenges? It comes back to the question of responsibility. No one else is going to do this for us and the onus falls on us as individual chaplains and chaplaincy associations to step up to the plate, as our American cousins would say. Inevitably there will be things that we get wrong, that is part and parcel of growing up after all, but learning from these mistakes is better than thinking there won't be some apple juice on the floor. Let's just not grow up too quickly and forget the awe and wonder and reverence which children can display at everything they see and which should be at the heart of every encounter we have with people. Derek Brown
Extract from Minute of SACH Executive Meetingheld on Monday 12th May 2008 Scottish Churches House, Dunblane Matters Arising: Consultation with CHCC (b) CHCC have further requested that Executive meetings of SACH and CHCC be held on the same day with a view to joint discussion on subjects of mutual interest being undertaken. This to be arranged with CHCC members at meeting in September. Portfolios Constitution Other Business: Committee Reports Finance US Link European Link Date of next meeting
If you have not yet received yourContinuous Professional Development Folderfrom SACH please contact the secretary. |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
Scratchings from the TDOThe report to revise the HDL of 2002 has now been written and by the time you read this it will be available. If you haven't seen it, and would like to – ask. It is inevitably not as ground breaking as the first HDL on Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy but hopefully it will continue and develop the direction of travel. If the theme of the original was about making spiritual care, with a broad definition, the responsibility of all NHS staff – all as spiritual care givers, the theme of the next is more to do with consolidation, a series of recommendations about mainstreaming the service and the increasingly professional view and practice of chaplaincy not only as a prospective Allied Health Profession but in terms of the importance of education, equalities, audit, and a more understandable service which functions across health boards in a truly person centred and inclusive way. Only it will not be an HDL. The new document which will go to all chief executives, probably late August, following consultation, will be a CEL, a chief executive's letter. This will be an instruction for Board's to follow the recommendations and should strengthen the hand and raise the profile of the spiritual care/ chaplaincy service. Part of the report is a review of the situation and developments over the past six years. It mentions the increasing evidence base showing the importance of treating people as people in whom mind/body is an integrated whole and not a series of vaguely connected parts. It looks at the development of departments and of spiritual care committees. It summarises the purpose and content of the Service Standards Document and the Capabilities Framework. It looks at the more business like way of determining levels of chaplaincy provision and at the practice of appointments. Unfortunately there has not been a breakthrough in the constricting and often unhelpful interpretation of Data Protection Law, but it is an area where we are continuing to work. I hope the conference on 18 th to which a variety of chaplains, board managers, faith/belief communities and others were invited, will have helped to air some of these issues. They will continue to be on the agenda of chaplaincy teams for a while to come. Chris Levison Rev Christopher Levison |
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
A date for your diary…………………. The Annual General Meeting of SACH will take place at the Beardmore Hotel, Clydebank during the annual Chaplaincy Conference, 16th-17th September 2008 More information will be sent out with the call notice at the end of August |
||||||||||||||||||
|
News from the JournalThere are some changes afoot at the Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy. We say good bye to James Falconer and Sheena Pirie in Aberdeen who have done so much work looking after the mailing list and subscriptions, and the heavy job of posting out all the volumes when they return from the printer. Many thanks to them for all their hard work. We are always on the look out for new research, so get writing! Also, don't forget if you are at a conference or talk that you think might make a good paper for the journal, why not suggest to the speaker they submit a paper to us. |
||||||||||||||||||
The ups and downs of the President?
Derek enjoys a little relaxation during the 10th Consultation of the European Network of Healthcare Chaplaincy held in Tartu, Estonia.at the end of May. |
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
I met an angel today
Rev Ian Knox The Red Cross Volunteer at the Cottage Hospital in Blairgowrie had a few spare minutes and kindly gave me one of her massages which inspired this wee poem. |
||||||||||||||||||
Piper Alpha DisasterThe 20th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster takes place on 6 July. The disaster had a major impact on Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the chaplaincy service there. Two chaplains who were involved will be telling of their experiences on the day on the BBC1 Sunday Life programme at 10am on Sunday 6 July 2008. |
|||||||||||||||||||
You
can find this (and previous) editions of SACH Soundings in full colour
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
The next edition of SACH Soundings will be
published in August 2008.
Tel: 01224
553166 |
