Hospital chaplains are witnessing acute stresses and strains in the NHS, in a ministry now as much geared to the needs of staff as of patients; current pressures were showing the value of that trend towards staff well-being, the president of the College of Health Care Chaplains (CHCC), Dr Simon Harrison, said on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Covid began is now very much continuing,\u201d he said. \u201cMy colleagues and I are in emergency departments daily, visiting to support patients wherever they are found. There\u2019s nothing we\u2019re doing that\u2019s new. Everyone is in different ways putting their hand to the pump.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what we learned from Covid is that you need to see staff where they are: to be alongside them on the front line. It\u2019s not about waiting to be called, but about going out proactively to see how they\u2019re doing on a good day or a bad day. The thing chaplains do which is relatively unique is brief encounters: a lot of these, in the moment \u2014 very real, confidential if required, but in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canon Mia Hilborn, a Hospitaller and chaplaincy team leader at Guy\u2019s and St Thomas\u2019 NHS Foundation Trust, in central London, described the added pressure from the sheer numbers in hospital, including many who no longer needed to be there. but had nowhere to go as a result of the shortage of workers in the care system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a shortfall if everyone is well. But if they take leave or are off sick, then it\u2019s a major shortfall,\u201d Canon Hilborn said. <\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a> (registration or subscription).<\/p>\n Care now needed for NHS staff, as well as patients, say hospital chaplains https:\/\/t.co\/vYIDgJ7giJ<\/a><\/p>\n — Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n