MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT CHURCH
HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ON MONDAY 9TH JUNE 2003
Present:
The Hon Barney Leith - Chairman
Ms Valerina Clarke
Mrs Joy Conway
The Rev Robert Evans
The Revd Edward Lewis - Chief Officer
Mr Sital Maan
Mr Ronald Maddox
Mr Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
The Rev Christine Pocock
HM Shafiqur Rahman
Mr Dhirendra Sanghrajka
Mr Paul Seto
Rabbi Martin van den Bergh
In attendance
Mr Tim Battle, Training and Development Officer
Ms Liz Paffey, HCC Administrator
Barney Leith welcomed those attending the meeting for the first time.
Members introduced themselves around the table.
17/03 Apologies
Apologies for absence were received from Mr Manhar Mehta, Mr Kishor
Ruparelia and later from Mr Bimal Krsna das.
19/03 Training Day (ref.
Minute 5/03)
There was enthusiasm for more Training Days. It might be possible
to run a Study Day for non-Christians and non-Muslims. The whole training
programme was currently under discussion and would be reviewed by
the Education Committee and in the light of the new Strategy document.
20/03 Membership of MFGHC (ref.
Minute 6/03)
A letter had been sent to Revd Robert Mitchell, Acting President of
the College of Health Care Chaplains inviting the College to be full
members of this Group. Letters were also being prepared for the Association
of Hospice and Palliative Care Chaplains and for the UK Association
for Clinical Pastoral Education.
21/03 Observer Members (ref.
Minute 12/03)
Letters had been sent inviting observer members to the appropriate
meetings.
22/03 MFGHC programme of work 2003 (ref.
Minute 14/03)
After discussions with members Tim Battle had drawn up the Work Programme
attached to the current Agenda. It laid out a 12 month projection
of administrative tasks attached to the various meetings and Committees,
preparation work in connection with documents and presentations, and
work on reviews of systems and strategies. There is reference to the
need to apply for a Grant to support the work.
The outline work programme was agreed.
23/03 Chair - Standards Committee (ref.
Minute 8/03)
The two Chairs have met together in order to plan the work for the
first meeting on the 14th July
24/03 'Caring for the Spirit' document
The document 'Caring for the Spirit: A strategy for the chaplaincy
and spiritual healthcare workforce' was considered. together with
a summary of issues prepared by Tim Battle.
Tim Battle talked through the four main proposals in the document
which were discussed by members. Various responses were made as follows:·
where do people not associated with the traditional religions fit
in?· spiritual needs of the patient must be paramount so that
the patient does not become the victim of those practising spiritual
care.· who will pay for the training of those who are wanting
to enter chaplaincy, and what funding will be made available to support
part-time and sessional chaplains from the smaller faith groups?·
include a category for mature entrants.· suggest 'openness'
be added to the list of Behaviours.· how will the training
and career development model apply to part-time and sessional chaplains
- particularly in rural Trusts and fragmented community hospitals?·
what criteria for pastoral formation and motivation will be formulated
to test people at the entry level?
The comments of the meeting, together with comments from the Education
Committee meeting would be reflected back to SYWDC. The document was
due to be redrafted by 11th July, sent to the Champions Group on 18th
July and publicly circulated at the end of July.
25/03 Launch Event 25th June 2003
The Launch was timed to run from 6.30 to 8.00 pm primarily to launch
this Group and give it the Department of Health's seal of approval,
but also to introduce the Listening Exercise associated with the new
Guidelines. The DoH Media Centre officers will produce a handout for
people to take away and arrange for a photographer to be present.
They will circulate photographs and information to the nursing and
health service journals, religious press and religious correspondents
from the broadsheets. Members were asked to provide the names of further
specialist press contacts.
26/03 Report from Education Committee
The first meeting did not take place jointly with the Chaplaincy Education
and Development Group but nevertheless was a very useful meeting.
It had been agreed that a practical project for the Committee to work
on would be a Resource Pack for hospital staff covering the needs
of faiths around birth, death and diet. Although these exist around
the country they vary considerably in quality, quantity and accuracy
and it was felt necessary to have a standard quality authorised version.
A survey to Chaplains might be undertaken in connection with this
project. The Standards Committee were also considering a survey and
it would be sensible to liaise and produce one survey document covering
the needs of both.
27/03 Review of Grants for chaplaincy made by
DoH
Barney Leith reported that the Group had been asked by the DoH to
look at the grants to the Free Churches and the Jewish community as
part of a general review by the DoH. He would be taking this forward
with those most concerned and would discuss the emerging findings
at the next meeting.
28/03 Benefits of meditation
Paul Seto draw attention to press reports on research about meditation
and Buddhists in particular which identified that regular meditation
develops the brain in a particular way, as a result of which it has
shown that Buddhists are happier than many other people.
29/03 Register of Spiritual Care Givers for
London
The Senior Chaplain at Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust was proposing to
set up for the London area a register of Spiritual Care Givers authorised
by their faith and was seeking the Group's approval to carry out this
work. It was unanimously welcomed.
30/03 Date of next meetings
Monday 29th September 2003. 10.30 am to 1.00 pm. Room 3 at Church
House.
Tuesday 13th January 2004. 10. 30 am to 1.00 pm. Room 1 at Church
House. [Changed to Tuesday 3 February 2004]
