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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 WEDNESDAY 18th May 2005

Present:

Rabbi Martin van den Bergh – in the Chair
Mrs Joy Conway
Mrs Linda Coulter
Mr Bimal Krsna das
Rev Robert Evans
Revd Debbie Hodge
Gen Tubchen Kelsang
Dr Raheem Khan
Hon Barney Leith
Revd Edward Lewis
Mr Sital Maan
Mr Ronald Maddox
Mr Manhar Mehta
Rev Preb Peter Speck
Rt. Revd Thomas Williams
Mr Alan Wittrick

In attendance:
Mr Tim Battle
Revd Chris Swift

16/05 Welcome

The Chair welcomed Ms Linda Coulter (Bahá'í faith community), Revd Debbie Hodge (Free Churches faith community), Revd Chris Swift (College of Health Care Chaplains) and Mr Derek Thomson (South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority (SYSHA)).

The Chair reported the appointment of Mr Alan Wittrick to succeed Mr Mike Farrar who was moving to the West Yorkshire SHA at the beginning of June. Mr Wittrick was congratulated on these changes, which he indicated would not lessen his support for the development of chaplaincy.

17/05 Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Mr Ervad Bhedwar, Revd George Cobb, Mr Baldev Mawi, Mr Jayman Mehta, Mr Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, HM Shafique Rahman, and Mr Kishor Ruparelia. .

18/05 Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 18th January 2005 were agreed subject to the correction of Mr Jayman Mehta's name.

19/05 Reception to mark the election of Honorary Officers 2005-06 (ref. min 3/05)

The Chair reported on the reception held on 26 th January to mark the election of honorary officers 2005-06. This had been a pleasant occasion attended by one or two MPs and with a reflection given by the Chief Rabbi, which had been appreciated by all.

20/05 Review of Department of Health central allocation of funding for NHS chaplaincy (ref. min 5/05)

The Council noted that the Department of Health (DH) had published its response to the James Report and included this on its website.

21/05 DH Seminar on S64 and DPA issues (ref. min 5/05)

Edward Lewis reported on the seminar funded by the DH, which had been held on 14 th March. Short presentations had been given about how best to apply for S64 funding and on current DPA issues

22/05 MFGHC grant applications 2006-07 (ref. min 5/05)

Tim Battle reported that he had submitted three applications for S64 funding on the Group's behalf:

•  Database and communication project – one year - £40000

•  Core funding – three year - £17000 per annum

•  Training for healthcare chaplains in world faiths – three year - £20000 per annum

23/05 SYSHA arrangements for administering the central allocation for chaplaincy (ref. min 5/05)

There was discussion about the system proposed for the longer term in support of healthcare chaplaincy. It was noted that the DH had indicated that their allocations to the three faith community posts were not tied in perpetuity and that this created uncertainty for recipients and for those who did not receive anything. Alan Wittrick indicated that there was also no guarantee that any central allocation would be available in future years but that a case would need to be made.

In response to concerns, the Chair suggested that there was a need to avoid action, which put current post-holders in jeopardy whilst supporting the needs of other faith communities to be funded to the same level. He was very concerned that the unity of the faith communities in supporting the Government's wish to develop multi-faith chaplaincy was now being challenged by their inability to deal fairly with all communities.

There was strong support for a more firm edged campaign to attract attention to this problem. Members suggested that MPs should be canvassed and that wider parliamentary support should be sought. There was a general feeling that the faith communities were being ignored at a time when they needed support. The Chair noted that the Executive Committee was meeting to consider these and other issues and that they would seek to make a public campaign more accessible to members.

Discussion also focused on the funding to be allocated by South Yorkshire and to whether the SHA might also be able to support further discussion about funding. Alan Wittrick suggested that they might not be a first line of attack but that he would seek to determine whether there was scope to increase the overall size of the allocation before there was a necessity to apply more stringent equalising actions. He agreed to pursue these issues in due course and to report progress. This approach was welcomed.

24/05 Communications strategy (ref. min 6/05)

It was agreed that the Executive Committee was to meet on 22 nd June 2005 to take these discussions forward.

25/05 Faith community representatives (ref min 11/05)

It was reported that Fr Peter-Michael Scott and Fr Paul Mason had been nominated as alternate representatives for the Rt. Revd Thomas Williams. Representatives of the Zoroastrian and Buddhist organisations were still to be nominated.

26/05 Listening exercise on quality standards for spiritual healthcare (ref. min 12/05)

It was noted that, as a result of pressure of other work, the listening exercise with chaplains and chaplaincy bodies had been postponed to July-September 2005. The listening exercise with NHS Bodies would take place once the Standards Committee had had the opportunity to digest the comments during the autumn.


27/05 Conference on multi-faith chaplaincy – Monday 6 th June – St Thomas' Hospital, London (ref min 12/05)

The Council received a copy of the draft programme for the conference and a note about the arrangements being made in support. These were approved.

28/05 Launch of the resources for multi-faith chaplaincy

It was agreed that this work should be drawn to a close and the resources made accessible as soon as possible. A suitable launch event would be arranged in due course.

29/05 Authorisation process – May 2005

The Council received a report from the Chief Officer on progress towards authorisation.

The initial discussions with representatives had proceeded satisfactorily and faith communities were making steady progress in identifying their arrangements. There was now time for a more formal discussion with Bodies which the Council might wish to designate as undertaking authorisation processes. These discussions would cover subjects such as preparation and formation for faith community representatives; training and education requirements; codes of practice; and the giving and removing of authorisation.

The Chief Officer had indicated the Bodies which might initially be approached to undertake these discussions on behalf of faith communities and these were agreed. It was also agreed that meetings should be led by the Chair or Vice Chair with the Chief Officer or Administrator.

An agenda for these meetings would be circulated during the summer.

30/05 Maintaining standards in spiritual healthcare

As part of the report of the work of the Standards Committee, the Council received a report from the Standards Committee proposing a mechanism for dealing with complaints that standards were not being maintained.

After discussion, the Council endorsed the proposed four stage approach namely:

Stage 1 - The individual raises the issue with the Trust and should be seen to exhaust local procedures possibly including comments from PCTs/ SHA

Stage 2 - The individual raises the issue with MFGHC which deals with the local SHA about policy issues/ compliance

Stage 3 - In the event that the local SHA cannot achieve any progress, MFGHC should draw the problem to the attention of the South Yorkshire SHA as the lead NHS body for spiritual healthcare.

Stage 4 - Such interactions should be publicised in the MFGHC Biennial Review

31/05 Chair/ Vice Chair reports – May 2005

The Chair reported on his activities with the last three months. He made special mention of his concern about the use of the term ‘generic chaplaincy' which he suggested was a watering down of the faith-based term of chaplaincy-spiritual care. He considered that it might be necessary to return to this subject on another occasion.

32/05 Chief Officer's report – May 2005

The Chief Officer reported on his activities with the last three months.

33/05 Education Committee report – May 2005

The Committee had not met since the last meeting. It was expected that the Committee would be involved in the discussion of the knowledge and skills required of chaplains working in spiritual healthcare under preparation by South Yorkshire SHA.

34/05 Dates of next meetings

The Council agreed to meet again on Wednesday 14th September 2005 and on Wednesday 18th January 2006.

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