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Multi-Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy

.....advancing multi-faith healthcare chaplaincy.

MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT CHURCH HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ON TUESDAY 18th NOVEMBER 2003

Present:
Hon Barney Leith - Chairman
Revd Edward Lewis - Chief Officer
Mr Sital Maan
Mr Baldevi Mawi
Rev Christine Pocock
HM Shafique Rahman
Mr Paul Seto
The Rt. Revd Howard Tripp
Rabbi Martin van den Bergh
Mrs Barbara Walsh

In attendance:
Mr Tim Battle
Fr Michael Hayes (for minute 44/03)

Mrs Barbara Walsh, Chief Executive, South Yorkshire WDC was welcomed to her first meeting.

44/03 Apologies
Apologies for absence were received from Ms Valerina Clarke, Mrs Joy Conway, Mr Bimal Krsna das, Rev Robert Evans, Mrs Lesley Hilton, Mr Ronald Maddox, Mr Manhar Mehta, Mr Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, Mr Kishor Ruparelia, Mr Dhirendra Sanghrajka, and Rev Preb Peter Speck.


45/03 Foundation Degree in Healthcare Chaplaincy
(ref. min 41/03)
The Council received a presentation from Fr Michael Hayes, Head of Faculty, St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, on his development of proposals for a foundation degree in healthcare chaplaincy.
In discussion the following points were clarified:

• There would need to be an overview of all faiths in addition to the detail about individual faiths. Thus, theology or spiritual direction would be handled in overall terms as well as in relation to Christian practice or, say, Jewish practice.
• The course would be aimed at all those who wished to work as healthcare chaplains and would be delivered by teachers who were appropriately trained and appropriately qualified. It would not be possible for, say, the existing faculty just to learn up on other aspects of chaplaincy but rather an experienced or learned scholar would need to be sought as necessary.
• In ranking for academic status, the foundation degree would sit between the certificate and the honours degree. It should be possible for the individual modules to be taken individually although this might not be such a "tidy" solution in terms of academic credits.
• Effort would need to be made to maximise opportunity for common learning with other healthcare students. Common learning gave individual students a better sense of their own subject as well as a greater appreciation of the contribution made by others. AT the very least, it was expected that one module should be taken jointly.
• Consideration would be given to how the philosophical aspects of sickness and health were examined and to whether there might be a separate module for this topic.
• There would need to be emphasis on the key skills of chaplains and on the practice of chaplaincy. This could be achieved by linking the course clearly to existing chaplaincy teams/ Trusts which already undertook much training and development work.
• The practicality of various locations was considered and the costs for students. Currently, Strawberry Hill and Chelsea were ideal locations although facilities in Euston/ King's Cross were also thought to be suitable for those travelling in to London. The costs would be £1050 per student per annum and HEFCE funding would be available for the remaining expenses.

It was suggested that the Education Committee should develop criteria for judging such programmes including the need to accommodate the requirements of smaller faith groups with entry requirements and an emphasis on multi-faith working. IN general terms, there was a need to encourage other people with this interest to come forward for this sort of preparation and reference was made to the experience of other faith communities which were ready to support these developments.

After further discussion, the Council welcomed this initiative and asked the Education Committee to take it forward on their behalf.


46/03 Review of Department of Health central allocation of funding for NHS chaplaincy (ref. min 37/03)

Edward Lewis reported that the result of discussions with the Department of Health Officials following the last meeting had been to conclude that an independent person would more easily undertake this work. The Department had now asked Mr John James to carry out this work and it was hoped that he would be able to meet with the Council in February.

The Chair reported a letter from Mrs Sarah Mullally about the work which the Council had started on this review. Inter alia, this letter referred to the approach being considered by the Council as likely to conclude with proposals "outside the scope of the project" and to the need for involvement of "other stakeholders" in this consideration. The Council considered that it would not have had the capacity for a wide exercise in consulting with NHS stakeholders and did not agree that the Group was not representative of faith communities.

In discussion, there was concern that further barriers were being placed in the way of achieving a level playing field for chaplaincy support funding. The need for additional funding was clear and Officials had indicated in 2002 that the only way in which financial support would be achievable was through formation of a multi-faith grouping. Whilst welcoming the involvement of an independent reviewer, there also seemed to be confusion about the need for funds for local services/ local hospitals and the need to develop a national infrastructure to support these local services.

Because John James had not been able to attend this meeting, it was agreed to extend an invitation to the next and to ask that the arrangements for the review be clarified at that meeting. In the meantime, a position paper should be drafted to reflect the position the Council now wished to adopt on the future use of the central allocation for chaplaincy support.


47/03 Retirement of Liz Paffey
The Chair reported on the farewell lunch for Liz Paffey which had been hosted by Mr Sital Singh Maan to whom the Council was grateful. Mrs Paffey had subsequently written a letter of thanks which the Chair read out to the meeting.


48/03 Membership of MFGHC by the College of Health Care Chaplains
(ref. Minute 33/03)
The Chairman reported further correspondence from the Acting President of the College of Health Care Chaplains. Revd Robert Mitchell had now proposed that the constitution of the Group should be changed before the College considered how to work with the Group. As this approach was not supported, the Chair was asked to meet with Robert Mitchell to determine what were the College's concerns.


49/03 NHS Chaplaincy: Meeting the religious and spiritual needs of patients and staff
The Chair reported on the launch of the new policy guidance by Sarah Mullally at an event held in St Bartholomew's Hospital on 5th November 2003 at which he had also spoken about the Group's work, formation and future prospects.


50/03 Caring for the Spirit: A strategy for the chaplaincy and spiritual healthcare workforce (ref. Minute 36/03)
The Chair reported also on the launch of the workforce strategy by Barbara Walsh at the same event held in St Bartholomew's Hospital on 5th November 2003. The Council welcomed the new strategy and congratulated Barbara Walsh on its inclusivity and comprehensiveness.


51/03 IT project in support of chaplaincy DPA/ consent issues
The Chair reported that, as part of her talk at the launch event, Sarah Mullally had made indicated that approval had now been given to the IT project in support of chaplaincy DPA/ consent issues. The project was aimed at establishing an information framework to help in the development of local information systems which will record a person's consent to their details being passed to the chaplaincy team. The project was expected to last for six months and to report its findings during 2004.

The announcement was welcomed by the Council.


52/03 Authorisation of chaplains from faith communities
The Council received a letter from Rev Chris Swift asking whether it was the Council's intention to undertake work on the authorisation of chaplains. It was noted that this was in the Council's work programme and that the Chief Officer would reply accordingly.


53/03 Date of next meeting
Tuesday 3rd February 2004. 10 am. to 1 pm. Church House.

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