A service provided by a religious denomination, primarily aimed at meeting the spiritual and religious needs of patients in hospitals. In the UK, NHS hospital trusts employ both full-time and part-time chaplains, usually representing the mainline Christian churches (Anglican, Free and Roman Catholic). Their duties vary but involve meeting the specifically religious needs of patients as well as of relatives and staff who may ask for help. Public services in chapels, the bedside administration of the Word and Sacraments, and prayers and radio services are among chaplains’ duties. When requested by patients, chaplains also liaise with representatives of other world faiths.

Chaplains have a broad responsibility for the spiritual health care of all in hospital. They train and use volunteers from local churches to help with ward visiting and other chaplaincy duties. Much of the time spent with patients takes the form of a listening ministry, helping patients to find their own answers to what is happening to them in hospital and in life generally. Spiritual health can be seen as a quest for the right relationships in four areas – with other people; with oneself; with the world around; and with ‘Life’ itself. The religious person subsumes all this in his/her relationship to God.

The link between spiritual disease and physical ill-health is well established; the chaplain therefore helps a hospital to provide a HOLISTIC approach to health care. Chaplains also give time to the care of staff who face increasing levels of stress at work, making use of support groups, counselling, meditation, etc. Chaplains support patients’ relatives facing a crisis, for example, by being with them over the period of a death, and by providing regular bereavement services. Some chaplains have a particular expertise in ETHICS and are members of the various hospital ethics committees. A chaplain may have a ‘non-management’ view of the health of the hospital itself, which can be of use to hospital management. (See also SPIRITUAL PAIN.)