Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Coordinator

at  St Lukes Cheshire Hospice

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy is one element of the Family Support Team at St Luke’s Hospice, which also provides Counselling, Social Work and Benefits Advice to the Hospice community. The successful candidate will work closely with the wider Hospice multidisciplinary team, and will be responsible for the spiritual, pastoral and religious care of the Hospice community, reporting to the Family Support Team Manager. The nature of chaplaincy is such that the Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Team seek key working relationships across the Hospice community, both at Grosvenor House and at other locations. These include but are not limited to medical staff and nursing teams, and across all supporting staff, such as Communications, Fund Raising, Retail and all other administrative colleagues.
As such, the successful candidate will possess excellent interpersonal skills, demonstrable ability to collaborate with and empower others, and the ability to work with and value diversity. Externally, the post holder will build upon and forge new links across various and appropriate religion and belief groups (NB: throughout this job description, religion means any religions, and any reference to religion includes reference to a lack of religion. Belief means any philosophical or religious belief, and a reference to belief includes a reference to a lack of belief too). The post holder will be pro-active in networking with Social Prescribers and agencies such as End of Life Partnership.
PURPOSE: To provide spiritual, pastoral and religious care to patients and families, colleagues and visitors within the Hospice community, and to support the same in bereavement and at other times of need. Such support will be equitable regardless of religion or belief group. To work as a flexible and responsive member of the wider multidisciplinary team, contributing to patient care through thoughtful and appropriate support. Being a listening ear to colleagues and others, and to those seeking support prior to and following bereavement.
Providing resources that enable the Hospice community to share in wider celebrations, Remembrance Services and other national events. Key Tasks and Responsibilities To provide spiritual, pastoral and religious care to patients and families within the In-Care Unit (IPU) and Day Hospice, and across the wider Hospice community To be responsive to the range of beliefs (religious and non-religious) that you might encounter, with no sense of any beliefs having greater worth or value than others, and without attempt to proselytise To listen to and care pastorally for colleagues (staff and volunteers), on both a one-to-one and group basis To help nurture and grow a team of gifted Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy volunteers To contribute to the ongoing development of creative, accessible and inclusive resources to enable delivery of high quality spiritual, pastoral and religious care, in line with the wider organisational Strategy Whilst the above represent the key responsibilities of this role, they are not all deliverable within a single week of 16 hours duration. Rather, it is expected that these elements will be accomplished on a planned basis according to a regular rota and according to priority, week by week. This job description is not exhaustive and is subject to review in conjunction with the post holder and according to future changes/developments in the service.
Delivering Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy To be connected to the needs of the local demographic, and to be competent and confident in facilitating the type of spiritual, pastoral and religious care that is right for the individual/group whether this is through personal delivery, or via the effective liaison with the MDT and/or external religion or belief groups To help staff to identify distress and any spiritual and/or religious needs expressed by patients, families or carers. To assist preparation and leading of seasonal services of remembrance and similar, aiming to nurture the experience of patients, families, carers and the bereaved under the care of St Lukes To liaise with visiting religion or belief group-leaders, ensuring warm and effective communication To ensure that spiritual care needs and concerns, and requirements of religion or belief group are documented appropriately and clearly on the patient records To practice ethically, respecting the wish of patients and families to decline spiritual care and chaplaincy support To discuss requests to officiate at funerals, weddings and baptisms with the Family Support Team Leader, and follow agreed guidelines as necessary To be willing to work occasional evenings and be part of a Sunday rota if required To share responsibility for the hospice Chapel, also known as the Sanctuary, ensuring this is a space that supports comfort and reflection for those of any religion or belief group To be an active voice and facilitator in the development of the Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy service Management To share responsibility for Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy volunteers. To be responsible for compliance with own professional body (or appropriate alternative) requirements in terms of code of conduct, professional practice, expertise and knowledge including maintaining continuous professional development Research and Audit Participate in clinical audit where indicated. Respond to identified needs, developing / modifying practice where required.
Quality of Service Provision of a safe and ethical environment where patients can freely express themselves without fear of judgement or condemnation Ensure the Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy service is pro-active, responsive, inclusive and available to all patients, relatives and carers, and to the wider hospice community To explore and implement a meaningful and effective means of assessment, to ensure the spiritual, pastoral and religious care needs of patients and families is identified in a timely and precise manner To explore and implement a meaningful and effective means of service evaluation, to ensure that the experience of those accessing the service is captured and any areas of learning or development are identified in a timely and precise manner Education To support the induction of staff and volunteers on the team To initiate, deliver and evaluate informal and formal events/sessions that aim to increase the knowledge and skills of the MDT in the delivery of spiritual, pastoral and religious care and support To help publicise the Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Team to ensure that patients, families and carers are aware of the support we offer To represent the Hospice within the wider community, assisting in developing services that meet the needs of all stakeholders. This may include meeting with local Church leaders and leaders of other faith/cultural communities, and contributing to talks and presentations to local and regional religion and belief groups and community groups Professional and Personal Development If ordained, be authorised to minister by an appropriate ecclesiastical authority or equivalent To work within the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy Code of Conduct or relevant and appropriate alternative (e.g. Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network) To be committed to attend regular 1:1 supervision, and participate in group supervision and reflective practice as required To develop positive relationships with the Chaplaincy Teams in the local NHS Trusts and community To maintain an awareness of regional and national policy in health care chaplaincy, palliative and end of life care and apply this as necessary Health & Safety & Security Under health and safety legislation, each individual has a legal responsibility for their own welfare and for the health and safety of others and to co-operate in maintaining their place of work in a tidy and safe condition, thereby minimising risk. The Hospice has a Health & Safety Policy which applies to all staff.
Similarly, it is each persons responsibility to ensure a secure environment and bring any breaches of security to the attention of their manager. Equal Opportunities St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice has given its full commitment to the adoption and promotion of the key principles of equal opportunities contained within current legislation and St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice Equality & Diversity Policy. Confidentiality In the course of your duties, you will have access to confidential material about members of staff, volunteers, other hospice business and patients. The Hospice has Data Protection Policy which applies to all staff.
St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice is committed to safeguarding adults and children and expects all staff to share in this commitment. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they are aware of specific duties relating to their role and should familiarise themselves with the Hospices Safeguarding Policies. Safeguarding training is mandatory for all staff. This job description may vary from time to time according to the needs of St Luke’s (Cheshire) Hospice.
This job description is not exhaustive and is subject to review in conjunction with the post holder and according to future changes/developments in the service

Please refer the Job description for details