Healthcare Chaplain

Job description

Job responsibilities

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Contribute to the safe and effective working of the Spiritual and Pastoral Care team:

Ensure effective communication and collaboration with all members of the Spiritual and Pastoral Care team

Adhere to all Trust and local policies and procedures

Participate in the daytime duty rota

Receive and respond to referrals from members of the healthcare team

Participate in the provision of 24-hour out-of-hours on-call cover within the required response time. This includes responsibility for actioning the initial phase of the NUH Major Incident Plan into action for Spiritual and Pastoral Care as necessary

Assist with Spiritual and Pastoral Care service developments, including Major Incident planning and implementation

Contribute to audit, research and professional development within Chaplaincy practice.

Provide skilled and effective spiritual care:

Provide specialist knowledge, skills and competency in relation to their own faith tradition allied with a broad knowledge of spiritual, cultural and ethical issues relating to healthcare.

Assess spiritual health and wellbeing needs, co-produce spiritual care plans and maintain a timely, factual and accurate electronic record of care provided for effective continuity of care

Manage referrals and determine a timely response

Provide spiritual and pastoral care in line with cultural, faith and belief realities of the individual in your care

Work collaboratively alongside other multi-disciplinary professionals in support of patient wellbeing needs

Advocate on behalf of individuals as appropriate and requested.

Provide or facilitate religious care:

Deliver ritual or sacrament in line with ones own religious faith or belief tradition

Perform ritual or sacramental interventions responsive to the needs of users and consistent with the authorisation and practice of ones own faith or belief community

Conduct funeral ministry

Establish effective links with faith/belief leaders in the community for continuity of care as consented

Provide effective care and support for staff:

Model working relationships and professional practice that respects the integrity of others

Assess and respond to individual staff pastoral and spiritual needs as required

Facilitate staff debrief following a difficult incident or experience in the ward or setting as required

Respect confidence in responding to requests for personal support from members of staff

Maintain awareness of organisational issues, changes and conditions that may affect staff wellbeing

Collaborate with other departments in supporting and promoting staff wellbeing.

Providing training and education:

Contribute to the selection, training and supervision of volunteers

Support the learning and professional development of trainee chaplains

Contribute to Trust and/or Departmental Induction Programme for new staff

Present education and training sessions promoting effective spiritual care practices organisationally.

Contribute to the professional development of Spiritual and Pastoral Care:

Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the theory and practice of Spiritual and Pastoral Care

Maintain an awareness of contemporary research relevant to Spiritual Care practice

Maintain an up-to-date awareness of professional development promoted through the UKBHC

Assist with audits, service reviews and research as directed by the Spiritual and Pastoral Care Manager.

Personal and Professional Development:

Identify and respond to the learning and professional development needs of self

Participate in the Professional Development Review Process (Appraisal)

Maintain an up-to-date portfolio of professional development

Practice in accordance with the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy Code of Conduct, Spiritual & Religious Care Capabilities & Competences for Healthcare Chaplains, and Standards for NHS Healthcare Chaplaincy Services

Participate in reflective practice and contribute to collaborative learning

Maintain a personal discipline within the integrity of the post holders own faith or belief tradition.

Contribute to the effective working of the Trust:

Adhere to Trust policies and procedures

Embody Trust values

Maintain compliance with Trust mandatory training requirements

Represent Spiritual and Pastoral Care in healthcare teams (eg. MDTs) in the Trust

Represent Spiritual and Pastoral Care at relevant functions and events

Participate in reflective practice and contribute to collaborative learning

Create and lead collective and corporate acts of reflection and remembering for staff members and acts of local and national significance

Financial Responsibilities

Responsible for handling and securely storing monetary collections taken at a service as necessary

Responsible for handling and securely storing donations given during contact with service users.

Person Specification

Accreditation and Qualification

Essential

• Demonstrable good standing within own faith or belief community.
• Accreditation/Licensing with authority to practice as a religion or belief (including non-religious beliefs) leader/representative and/or pastoral worker.
• Accredited training/qualification (normally degree level or higher) in theology, spiritual care and additional post-graduate Healthcare Chaplaincy qualification in line with UKBHC requirements for Registration as a Healthcare Chaplain.

Desirable

• Further counselling/coaching skills supported by appropriate training/accreditation.

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience within NHS Healthcare Chaplaincy.
• Ability to assess the spiritual care needs of patients, to recognise and understand the forms in which spiritual, religious and cultural needs present themselves in individuals, and provide effective spiritual care in line with contemporary professional practice.
• Able to support and facilitate sacraments/rites and spiritual needs according to service user's own faith/belief group.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team setting, with agreed protocols and procedures. Demonstrate an understanding of team dynamics and collaborative working.
• Experience of participating in the out of hours on-call rota.

Desirable

• Clear understanding of current issues and developments in NHS Healthcare Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care.
• Ability to evidence continuing professional development in line with UKBHC recommendations.

Communication and Relationship Skills

Essential

• Able to demonstrate active listening skills with a high level of self-awareness and inter-personal skills, with the ability to reflect on own practice and develop professional practice with insight.
• Experience of working sensitively with people of all faiths and beliefs, and within multi-faith and belief teams.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills to provide spiritual care to individuals in a variety of complex clinical encounters eg. traumatic incident, breaking significant news.
• Able to provide up-to-date and current specialist teaching of spiritual care practice and religious and cultural perspective in the wider healthcare setting.

Desirable

• Demonstrate an understanding of team dynamics and collaborative working.

Analytical and Judgement Skills

Essential

• Able to understand and apply the values guiding the conduct of healthcare professionals, ensuring that patient care is delivered with dignity, respect, and fairness. Able to contribute to ethical discussion and support ethical reflection.
• Able to search, evaluate and incorporate relevant research findings into spiritual care practice.
• Knowledge and experience of values based reflective practice (VBRP).

Planning and Organisational Skills

Essential

• Proficient in performance of administrative processes, eg. accurate PAS record keeping. Computer literate and familiar with Microsoft Office (ie. Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Publisher).
• Good time management, with ability to prioritise conflicting tasks and demands, ability to evidence autonomous working, And the ability to manage a complex spiritual care case-load

Additional Skills

Essential

• Full UK Driving Licence, personal use of a vehicle and ability to reach the appropriate NUH Site when on-call within one hour.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trusts

Address

Queen's Medical Centre

Derby Road

Nottingham

NG7 2UH

Employer's website

https://www.nuh.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)