Chaplaincy – Spiritual, Pastoral and Religious Care

Belief – means what someone thinks is true. For example, belief in the teachings of a particular religion, or belief in climate change through human actions.

Worldview – means the set of ideas and beliefs which help you to make sense of the world. For example, a ‘secular humanist worldview’ looks to reason and science to make sense of the world and rejects supernatural beliefs.

Pastoral Care – is concerned with physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, and helping people to address, manage and overcome personal issues. For example, helping someone to express their emotional needs or giving practical help so that they can stay in touch with their family.

Spiritual Care – is concerned with whatever gives meaning, hope, value and purpose to life and relationships for each person. For example, helping someone to make sense of what has happened to them in life, including mental illness and loss.

Religious Care – is concerned with helping someone to meet needs which come from their religion. For example, supplying particular religious books or items to help them pray, or offering guidance on how their religion affects their mental health.

The NHS is here to care for you as a whole person. Our Trust cares about your mental and physical health. We also care about your spiritual and pastoral needs. NHS Chaplains support this care by helping you to receive compassion, hope and understanding. And if you also have religious needs, we will help the Trust to meet these needs too while you are in our care. We will also help your family or others who care for you.

Chaplains will listen to your story and find out what is important to you. We help you to work out what will lift your spirits and give you hope. We will also work with other people in the care team to help them to understand your religious needs. You do not need to be religious to talk to a chaplain (and some of our chaplains are not
religious). We begin with you and your needs. Chaplains do not tell you what to believe but help you to work out what it is that you believe. And you do not have to talk about religion at all.

You can speak to a chaplain about anything. It might be because:

• you are worried, anxious or concerned about something.
• you want to make sense of what is happening to you and why, or what has happened in the past.
• you want to talk about difficult things.
• you want to say you are angry or hurt.
• of changes in your life or because you have had bad news.
• your spirituality and religion and your spirituality and your mental health are not mixing well.
• you want someone to pray with you or for you.
• you want advice about your religion, or you want religious rituals or ceremonies.
• you are not sure who to speak to.

You can also be sure that much of what you talk about will be kept private between you and the chaplain. But as part of the chaplain’s duty of care to you, any concerns about your health or any risks to you and your wellbeing will be passed on to the doctors and nurses who are also caring for you.

Each ward and community team has a chaplain attached to it, and the chaplain
visits regularly. Each chaplain belongs to a faith or belief community (including
Humanists UK). For the major faiths in our region – Christianity, Islam and Judaism –
we have male and female chaplains. We can also help people from your own faith or
belief community to visit you if your ward chaplain is not part of that community and you
want that to happen. Getting spiritual support from people you know and trust can help you on your journey back to health. (We will not invite people to visit you without your permission).

The chaplains are an essential part of the multi-disciplinary team of doctors, nurses, therapy and support staff which cares for you. As experts in pastoral, spiritual, and religious care, we will use your medical records to learn your story and to find out how best to work with you, and we will write notes in your records to offer the other team members (such as doctors, nurses and psychologists) advice about your spiritual needs. We will also meet with them to discuss your care.

We have multi-faith quiet rooms/chapels on all main sites.

• Carleton Clinic
• Ferndene
• Hopewood Park
• Monkwearmouth Hospital
• Northgate Park
• St George’s Park
• St Nicholas Hospital
• Walkergate Park

In some of them, we hold regular religious services. We might also hold discussion groups. Many of our wards have quiet rooms or chill-out rooms for you to spend time thinking, reflecting, meditating or praying. Each ward has a spirituality resource box with holy books, prayer mats, mindfulness CDs, and other items. Ask your ward office to lend you what you need or ask them to email [email protected]

You can ask for chaplaincy support if you are being cared for by any of our community teams. Ask them to refer you to chaplaincy. Sometimes they might suggest to you that you might find a chaplain helpful. We can also offer support to your family or carers. And if you have a faith community which needs help to support you or understand you, a chaplain can visit them too (with your permission). Chaplains regularly offer training to community groups to help them to support mental wellbeing.

If you want to make a comment, suggestion, compliment or complaint you can:

• talk to the people directly involved in your care
• ask a member of staff for a feedback form, or complete a form on the Trust website
• telephone the Complaints Department on 0191 245 6672
• email [email protected].

We are always looking at ways to improve services. Your feedback allows us to monitor the quality of our services and act upon issues that you bring to our attention. You can provide feedback in the following ways:

• the quickest way for you to do this is to complete our short online survey at www.cntw.nhs.uk/yourvoice
• complete a Your Voice survey, available on wards, reception areas or from staff
• other options for sharing your feedback and experience www.cntw.nhs.uk/yourfeedback

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
PALS provide confidential advice and support, helping you to sort out any concerns that you may have about any aspect of your or your loved ones care.

We act independently when handling patient and family concerns, liaising with staff, managers and, where appropriate, relevant organisations, to negotiate prompt solutions. If necessary, we can also refer patients and families to specific local or national-based support agencies.

North of Tyne
Telephone: 0800 032 0202
Email: [email protected]
Post: FREEPOST PALS

9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday

An answerphone is available at all times for you to leave a message. A member of the PALS team will aim to return your call as soon as possible.