Proposals to commission hospital chaplains on the same basis as doctors – NSS protests

A move by an all-party group of MPs to make hospital chaplains “a commissioned service” on the same basis as medical staff has been condemned by the National Secular Society (NSS).

Responding to a consultation being conducted for the parliamentary chaplaincy group by Conservative shadow Health Secretary Mike Penning, the NSS has criticised the use of Health Service money to fund these services and has recommended that the religious groups should fund them from their own pockets.

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said that “Research is needed into how important these services really are to patients. It is curious that moves to retain or even increase chaplaincy services come after church attendance has been in decline for sixty years and is projected to continue to decline. More important, we need to know whether patients would prefer the money to be used to fund medical staff and resources, which is what the alternative would be, especially in times of financial stringency.”

Mr Sanderson said: “It is not good enough simply to ask people if they want the chaplaincy service to continue in its present form. You need also to ask them whether they consider the tens of millions of pounds of NHS money spent on these services wouldn’t be better deployed elsewhere. After all, the employment of one chaplain (average cost £50,000) would fund an extra two nurses or several cleaners.”

Mr Sanderson said “the NSS is not seeking to end chaplaincy services, but they should be funded by the religious groups who want them. Most people in hospital who might want a chaplain will be within easy travelling distance of their priest or imam, etc. They would be far better suited to do the job, and at no cost to the NHS. When costs had to be cut at the Worcester Acute Health Care Trust, for instance, one of the chaplaincy team was made redundant. Local Christian charities then stumped up the money to keep him on. We feel that the Church has the resources to provide these services on a when-needed call-out basis using local clergy. They do not need a whole string of people based in the hospital and using up medical budgets.”

Mr Sanderson, who has worked in hospitals for most of his forty-year working life, said that he had never once been asked by a patient for the services of a chaplain.

“Religion is not generally important to people in this country,” he said. “A Home Office survey showed that it was ranked ninth in a list of characteristics that people thought important to their identity. I am sure that they would prefer the money that is spent on chaplaincies to be redirected to the fundamental purpose of the hospital – the provision of medical services and after care.”

In a response to a parliamentary question, the Government revealed that it did not keep records about hospital chaplains and could not reveal the total cost of maintaining them. The National Secular Society is presently researching these costs and hopes to come up with a definitive figure soon.

Meanwhile, religious groups with a vested interest in having their clergymen paid for by the taxpayer, welcomed the proposals. The Revd Edward Lewis, chief executive and secretary of the Hospital Chaplaincies Council, was pleased at the prospect of vicars in hospitals being commissioned on the same basis as doctors. “This consultation is excellent,” Mr Lewis said, in anticipation of another huge privilege for religion in public life.

The Secular Medical Forum has also replied to the consultation and its chair, Antony Lempert, said “NHS Trusts might consider canvassing local opinion on the subject of chaplaincy services. Options other than the status quo should be explicitly aired. For example, if patients feel that the pastoral support provided by chaplains is valuable, the Secular Medical Forum would support the development of non-religious pastoral support or hospital visiting schemes. Some trusts already provide ‘Bereavement Centres’. These centres can help families with the practicalities of dealing with the death of a relative, can offer a certain amount of emotional support and may usefully signpost people to other sources of appropriate support outside the hospital.”

Find out more about the Secular Medical Forum

26 September 2008