Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Spiritual Care Lead

The closing date is 25 January 2026

Job summary

Developing the provision of Spiritual Care / Chaplaincy within the organisation. Ensuring that the religious/ spiritual care needs of staff from any religious or belief based system are not excluded within Trust working practices and policies .

Supporting and maintaining the existing spiritual care support staff and systems within the Trust

Please note: Due to recent changes in UK immigration and visa rules, this role may not be eligible for Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. Applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK may not be considered. Candidates requiring sponsorship should review the eligibility criteria on the gov.uk website before applying to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship for this role.

Skilled Worker visa: going rates for eligible occupation codes - GOV.UK

Health and Care Worker visa: If you'll need to meet different salary requirements - GOV.UK

Main duties of the job

To lead and further develop the volunteer Chaplaincy/spiritual care service across the Intermediate Care Units within the localities served by Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.

To Ensure robust links with religious & spiritual care based organisations across Est & West Sussex and Brighton and Hove.

To attend the Trusts Religion, Spirituality & Beliefs Network.

Oversee and contribute to the Quarterly Belief based educational seminars for trust staff.

To organise & support impartial & confidential support and advice to trust staff and patients within the In-patient beds.

About us

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?o Positive 2024 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeingo Varied environments: community hospitals, patients' homes, and bases across Sussexo Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retiremento Excellent training, development, and research opportunitieso Accredited Living Wage Employer, we ensure fair pay for all our staffo Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brightono Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networkso Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust

Our values--Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence--guide everything we do.

We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.

Date posted

14 January 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

150-GM2330-COR-A

Job locations

Brighton General Hospital

Elm Grove

Brighton

BN2 3EW

Job description

Job responsibilities

1. Job summary

Working closely with the Connect Team, the volunteer service and the current chaplaincy volunteers the post holder will be leading on the provision of spiritual and pastoral care for Trust patients, carers and staff within the community. With special responsibility for recruiting, training, managing and supervising spiritual care volunteers within the existing chaplaincy & spiritual care structures within the Trust.

The post holder will provide oversight of the pastoral provision delivered through chaplaincy volunteers and will be contributing to the developing SCFT Spiritual Care Strategy

The post holder will work closely with the Trust Religion, Spirituality & Beliefs Network to ensure that there is a diverse range of chaplaincy reflecting an inclusive service of differing faith and belief systems operating for the benefits of staff and patients. The post holder will reach out to and engage the support of the faith and belief resources that are present within the Trusts covered communities.

The post holder will be responsible for the quality and performance of the Chaplaincy volunteers with a particular focus on inclusivity and cultural sensitivity. A key responsibility will be to ensure governance structures and leadership/communication processes are in place and effective for practice within the service including, safety and risk assessment when identifying, assessing and providing care for patients and staff.

To utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and research to ensure the use of evidence-based best practice.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and within the overall framework of the services policies and procedures.

2. Communication and Working Relationships

Existing Trust Chaplaincy staff
Connect Services
Clinical & Team Leads within Locality services
Volunteer service leads
Faith Leaders & Faith Representatives (including non-religious groups)
Senior members of management teams
Colleagues in secondary mental health services and local Acute Trusts
Colleagues in 3rd sector and voluntary organisations
Representatives of the hard-to-reach communities.

The Post holder will work with a wide range of stakeholders to promote, develop and enhance the service.

The post holder will need to remain mindful of sensitive information when communicating with external agencies and liaise closely with the Trust Information Governance Lead where appropriate

3. Key responsibilities

The post holder will ensure that the team is engaged in and accountable for the delivery of a high quality, Spiritual Care /Chaplaincy, effective and safe service,

The post holder will actively support the current implementation and expansion of the Spiritual Care Strategy, supporting the development and implementation of new ways of working and embedding them into service.

To be aware of, and sensitive to, the varying spiritual and pastoral needs of people across a range of faiths and cultures. Specifically, to maintain parity of esteem for all worldviews, and to develop relationships with faith leaders from different religion and belief traditions as appropriate.

Working with the appropriate Volunteer Manager, to lead on recruiting additional spiritual and pastoral care volunteers.

To develop and support external appropriately qualified individuals to act in an advisory capacity regarding a growing range of Religious & Spiritualties issues to the Trust and, where possible to enable representatives to provide information and education to Trust staff via the Religion, Spirituality & Belief (RSB) Network

To provide appropriate induction and on-going training for the Trust Staff, spiritual and pastoral care volunteers.

To lead on implementing the Spiritual and Pastoral Care Strategy for the Trust.

4. Main tasks

To provide expertise, religious/pastoral/spiritual advice and support to multidisciplinary team members, including colleagues in partner agencies.

The post holder as the Spiritual Care Lead will ensure that the team is engaged in and accountable for the delivery of a high quality, Spiritual Care /Chaplaincy, effective and safe service,

The post holder will actively support the implementation of the Spiritual Care Strategy, supporting the development and implementation of new ways of working and embedding them into service.

Working with the appropriate Volunteer Manager, to lead on recruiting additional spiritual and pastoral care volunteers, to create further capacity to deliver the Trusts Spiritual Care Strategy.

To provide appropriate support & on-going training for the Chaplaincy & pastoral care volunteers.

To contribute to developing & implementing the Spiritual and Pastoral Care Strategy for the Trust.

To always act in accordance with the values and principles in the UK Board for Healthcare Chaplaincy Code of Conduct.

To have a commitment to your own spiritual growth and development.

To facilitate for the community-based clinical teams, if required, appropriate acts of public worship or celebration.

To be a specialist resource for Trust community-based staff on matters of spirituality in healthcare, and to contribute to spiritual healthcare training and development programmes as required.

To liaise if required with partner organisations and local faith and belief communities (in accordance with NHS confidentiality regulations) regarding the support and care of patients in the community.