Job responsibilities
JOB
PURPOSE
Provide spiritual and pastoral
care, and facilitate religious care to meet the needs of patients, staff,
students and visitors of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Take responsibility for a caseload
of patients and service users with wide-ranging and complex spiritual,
pastoral and religious needs and participate fully in the urgent On-Call
Rota.
Significantly contribute
collaboratively to an effective Chaplaincy department.
3. JOB DIMENSIONS
The
post holder is based at St. James University Hospital but has a Trust-wide
responsibility shared with the other Anglican/Free Church chaplains,
volunteer honorary chaplains and Chaplaincy/Spiritual Care Team volunteers
for the provision of spiritual, pastoral and religious care. Primary
importance is given to spiritual and sacramental care needs but input is also
be expected to generic pastoral needs and Trust policy development.
Responsibility
for managing, supervising and supporting volunteer honorary chaplains,
students and Spiritual Care Team volunteers, care of chaplaincy resources and
responsibility for the handling of donations is integral to the post.
KNOWLEDGE,
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Eligible to be authorised by
appropriate faith or belief group to practice as a Healthcare Chaplain.
Educated to Honours degree level.
Previous Chaplaincy Experience.
To be registered or eligible to be
registered by the UKBHC, with postgraduate specialist Healthcare Chaplaincy
qualification.
Broad knowledge of faith and belief
systems to be able to work in a multi-cultural/multi-faith and belief context
Broad knowledge and understanding
of workings of the NHS to enable the post holder to work as part of a
Chaplaincy Team and play an active part in the life of the Trust in a
multi-disciplinary context.
Knowledge and understanding of
national policies and procedures relevant to the provision of a Chaplaincy
Service / Bereavement Care.
Proven capability of working in
demanding and sensitive situations
with effective pastoral care skills; able to demonstrate highest
standards of care for patients, staff and relatives
Ability to use liturgical skills in
a diverse range of contexts and be able to make effective assessment of the
appropriate use of prayer, worship and sacramental ministry.
Advanced understanding of the
ethical issues relating to health care.
Experience of collaborative team
working
PRINCIPAL
DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Contribute to the effective
working of the Chaplaincy team:
Ensure good communication and
collaboration with all members of the Chaplaincy Team
Follow established procedures and
policies.
Contribute to the effective
operation of an on-call rota
Share in the provision of 24-hour on-call cover making decisions on
own initiative about spiritual needs in crisis situations; responding to
emergency calls while meeting the required response time
Participate in Chaplaincy role in
Major Incident
Contribute to caseload planning
within the Chaplaincy team and the allocation of patients to volunteers
Provide supervision to entry-grade
chaplains, students on placement and volunteers
Participate in, or take the lead
responsibility for specialist projects and implementation of service
developments with related policy changes as directed by the Head of
Chaplaincy
Prepare and disseminate briefings,
reports and liturgical material
Contribute to chaplaincy service
development
Deputise for the Head of Chaplaincy
or Deputy Head of Chaplaincy when required
Provide
pastoral and spiritual care:
Provide and receive highly complex,
sensitive or contentious information within the context of pastoral,
religious, spiritual care for distressed patients, service users and the
bereaved.
Assess spiritual health and
wellbeing needs, develop spiritual care plans, keep written and electronic
records
Evaluate referrals and determine a
timely response
Provide spiritual and pastoral care
that is sensitive to multi-cultural and multi-faith/belief realities for the
diversity of patients and those significant to them, service users, staff and
students
Make reasoned judgements involving
complex religious and pastoral situations
Maintain effective and consistent
links with designated clinical areas
Work collaboratively alongside
other professionals at all grades
Facilitate
religious care:
Provide specialist person-centred
religious, spiritual and pastoral care and advice for patients, service users
and staff
Facilitate services or prayers in
line with patient/staff/relative/carer needs
Devise, co-ordinate and lead
religious/non-religious (as appropriate) services/ritual to meet particular
needs e.g. memorial services for deceased staff.
Facilitate ritual interventions
connected with crisis, according to the needs of service users, and
consistent with the permissions and practice of the relevant faith community
To facilitate and deliver adult
contract funerals and funerals for babies
facilitate necessary rites and
sacraments that cannot be undertaken by the post-holder to be administered by
a suitable colleague or community faith leader
Make referrals to appropriate faith
or belief leaders and community ministers of religion at the patients
request and with their consent
Establish effective links with
parish priests, ministers of religion, and faith leaders and belief
organisations in the community.
Provide
support for staff:
Support good working relationships
which respect the integrity of others
Schedule time for staff as service
users
Assess and respond to spiritual
needs of staff (individual/collective)
Be actively aware of issues,
changes and conditions which affect staff wellbeing
Collaborate with other relevant
departments in promoting staff wellbeing
Providing training and education:
Identify learning needs of self and
others
Initiate and plan the delivery of
learning opportunities
Mentor and supervise designated
entry-grade chaplains
Provide training for staff,
students, volunteers and local faith and belief communities, as agreed with
the Head of Chaplaincy
Contribute
to the professional development of Chaplaincy:
Maintain an understanding of
spiritual care theory and practice
Play a full role in the reflective
practice processes of the department
Undertake literature searches and
critical reviews of research relevant to Chaplaincy
Contribute to audit, service
reviews and research projects
Contribute to conferences and
publications
Champion the unique dimension that
high quality and effective spiritual care brings
Personal
and Professional Development:
Develop and maintain up to date
knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to the duties of the job e.g.
critical care, pastoral practice
Participate in Annual Appraisal and
achieve agreed personal and professional development goals
Practice in accordance with the
UKBHC skills and competencies framework and professional codes of conduct
Develop as a reflective
practitioner and receive regular supervision
Maintain a spiritual discipline
and/or nurture personal values
Contribute
to the effective working of the Trust:
Follow Trust policies and
procedures
Keep up-to-date with mandatory
training
Participate in relevant Trust-wide
activities
Represent Chaplaincy at relevant
functions and events.
Take responsibility for the health
and safety of self and others
Take responsibility for regularly
handling and processing of financial donations and charitable funds
SPECIFIC
TO ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS
As well as being responsible and
accountable to the Trust, the post holder is ministerially accountable to the
Local Ordinary, in this case the Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds, whilst also
liaising with the Bishops Diocesan Healthcare Advisor.
Educated to Honours degree level in
theology or equivalent.
Minister sacramentally, pastorally
and spiritually to Roman Catholic patients, relatives and staff as
appropriate.
Be the first point of contact on
Catholic teaching in the Trust
.
Responsible for the co-ordination
of the Catholic chaplaincy on-call system and Catholic volunteers.
With patient consent to make
appropriate referrals and liaison with local Catholic faith communities
Demonstrate pastoral sensitivity to
the needs of other faith and belief communities.
Undertake appropriate Catholic
spiritual development and continuous professional development.
Establish effective links with
Catholic parishes in the community.
