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MULTI-FAITH
GROUP FOR HEALTHCARE CHAPLAINCY
MINUTES
OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT CHURCH HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ON MONDAY
28th SEPTEMBER 2003
Present:
The Hon Barney Leith - Chairman
Ms Valerina Clarke
Mr Bimal Krsna das
The Rev Robert Evans
Mr Simon Goulden (vice Mrs Conway)
The Revd Edward Lewis - Chief Officer
Mr Ronald Maddox
Mr Manhar Mehta
HM Shafique Rahman
The Rt. Revd Howard Tripp
Rabbi Martin van den Bergh
In
attendance:
Mr Tim Battle
31/03 Apologies
Apologies for absence were received from Mrs Joy Conway, Mrs Lesley
Hilton, Mr Sital Maan, Mr Baldevi Mawi, Mr Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin,
Rev Christine Pocock, Mr Kishor Ruparelia, Mr Dhirendra Sanghrajka,
Mr Paul Seto, Rev Preb Peter Speck, and Mrs Barbara Walsh.
32/03 Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 9th
June 2003 were agreed.
33/03 Membership of MFGHC by the College of Health Care Chaplains
(ref. Minute 20/03)
The Chairman reported correspondence from the Acting President of
the College of Health Care Chaplains. Revd Robert Mitchell had suggested
that the College would prefer simply to exchange observers but the
Chairman had written to say that membership of the Group by the College
was essential and would benefit both Bodies. An answer was awaited.
34/03 Observer Members (ref.
Minute 21/03)
It was reported that both observer members had accepted the invitation
to attend but had offered apologies for this particular meeting.
35/03 MFGHC programme of work 2003 (ref.
Minute 22/03)
It was acknowledged that the programme of work needed to be updated
regularly to reflect changes in workload and priorities. It was agreed
that an update should be carried with each set of Council minutes.
36/03 'Caring for the Spirit' document (ref.
Minute 24/03)
· Tim Battle reported that South Yorkshire WDC had agreed to
postpone the publication of their workforce strategy until November
when it could be launched at the same time as the revised policy guidance.
37/03 Review of Department of Health central allocation of funding
for NHS chaplaincy
The Council considered a report from the Chief Officer setting out
an approach to the request to advise the Department of Health about
future use of its central allocation for chaplaincy. The report proposed
the acceptance of project methodology for this work; a list of priorities
for MFGHC's work programme; and four principles on which the future
allocation could be considered. The paper also included a worked example
to illustrate the changes which would occur through the application
of this method.
Concern was raised on behalf of Jewish Chaplaincy that the basis on
which the original allocation had been made (no Jewish chaplain was
employed by any NHS Trust) was not being represented appropriately.
There were concerns about the way in which Trusts would deliver chaplaincy
services if left to their own devices and also about the need correctly
to recompense those who currently provided these services. In addition,
it was noted that the Department of Health intimated its support for
multi-faith work but did not intend to resource its development appropriately.
Concern was raised on behalf of the Free Churches Chaplaincy which,
whilst supporting the need to develop other faith group chaplaincies,
did not consider that the best way was "to rob Peter to pay Paul".
There was real concern that the current support to the Free Churches
chaplaincy would be lost in the complexity of the rearrangement proposed.
Concern was raised on behalf of the Muslim Chaplaincy which had been
omitted from the paper although it had been explained that some levels
of support were in place. However, the point was made that Muslim
Chaplains needed support for development of their chaplaincy; the
creation of an authorisation body; and for other issues including
training and back-up administration. The need for more rather than
re-allocated funding was supported.
In discussion, there was sympathy with the view that the level playing
field should be a levelling up rather than a levelling down. At the
same time, it was not thought likely that the Department of Health
would withdraw from its intended review of the central allocation
so change was likely. Edward Lewis indicated that the Department of
Health had caused some difficulty by appearing to suggest, on the
one hand, that the allocation should be spread more fairly and, on
the other hand, that the allocation should be used to fund projects
only (and not chaplaincy administration).
Edward Lewis and Tim Battle were due to meet with the Deputy to the
Chief Nursing Officer and Mrs Leslie Hilton at a meeting later in
the week at the Department of Health to discuss this confusion. It
was suggested that this might also be an opportunity to raise the
more general concerns voiced by members about the future central allocation.
More time would be welcomed to resolve some of these concerns and
efforts by many to achieve progress to date should not be lost for
lack of consideration at this stage.
In conclusion, it was agreed that the first step should be to raise
these issues through the meeting planned with the Department of Health.
If no progress was made, the Council agreed to meet again in November
to review this issue further.
In relation to the recommendations in the paper, the Council agreed
to propose that Paul Seto and Sital Maan join the project group; to
accept the statement of priorities set out in paragraph 9; and to
agree the principles set out in paragraphs 11, 13 and 14. Rabbi van
den Bergh and Mr Goulden expressed their reservations about paragraph
13 in particular.
38/03 Revised policy guidelines
The listening exercise had been completed in mid-August and a small
group from MFGHC was working with the Department of Health to revise
the guidance for publication. The next meeting of that group was on
3rd October after which a final draft might be available. The launch
date was the morning of Wednesday 5th November in London.
39/03 Work permits for overseas chaplains
It was agreed to raise this issue with the Immigration Section to
see whether guidance could be developed to facilitate chaplaincy.
40/03 Department of Health list of religions
It was agreed to seek clarification of the list of religions currently
used by the Department of Health
41/03 Foundation Degree in chaplaincy
Arrangements were agreed for Father Michael Hayes, Head of Theology
at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, (University of Surrey) to meet
with the Group at 11 am on Tuesday 18th November to discuss the foundation
degree in chaplaincy.
42/03 Mrs Liz Paffey
Arrangements were agreed for a farewell lunch for Mrs Paffey at 1
p.m. on Thursday 13th November at a restaurant in central London.
Edward Lewis would confirm arrangements.
43/03 Date of next meeting
Tuesday 18th November 2003 10.30 am to 1.00 p.m. Church HouseTuesday
3rd February 2004. 10.30 a.m. to 1.00 pm. Church House.
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