Multi-faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy Council 18 January 2005

Council Minutes

MULTI-FAITH GROUP FOR HEALTHCARE CHAPLAINCY

MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT CHURCH HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ON WEDNESDAY 18th January 2005

Present:

Rabbi Martin van den Bergh – in the Chair
Mrs Joy Conway
Rev Robert Evans
Mr Jayman Mehta
Hon Barney Leith
Revd Edward Lewis
Mr Sital Maan
Mr Ronald Maddox
Mr Manhar Mehta
Mr Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
Revd Geoffrey Roper
Rev Preb Peter Speck
Ms Barbara Walsh
Rt. Revd Thomas Williams
Mr Alan Wittrick

In attendance:
Mr Tim Battle
Mr John James for minute 5/05
Gen Tubchen Kelsang
Revd Robert Lloyd-Richards

1/05 Welcome

The Chair welcomed Mr Jayman Mehta to his first meeting as a spokesperson for the Jain community; Mr Alan Wittrick who was attending on behalf of South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority; Revd Robert Lloyd-Richards who was attending on behalf of the College of Health Care Chaplains; and Mr John James who had carried out the review of central funding of chaplaincy on behalf of CNO.

2/05 Apologies

Apologies for absence were received from Mr Ervad Bhedwar, Mrs Linda Coulter, Mr Bimal Krsna das, Dr Raheem Khan, Mr Baldev Mawi, HM Shafique Rahman, Mr Kishor Ruparelia, and Revd Peter Wells.

3/05 Election of Honorary Officers 2005-06 (ref min 43/04)

The Chief Officer reported the results of the recent elections as follows:
Chair – Rabbi Martin van den Bergh
Vice-Chair – Mr Sital Singh Maan
Co-Chair, Education Committee – HM Shafique Rahman, Mr Manhar Mehta
Co-Chair, Standards Committee – Mr Ron Maddox, Revd Bob Evans

The Chair paid tribute to the work of his predecessor and former Co-Chairs and thanked them for their work on behalf of the Council

He also indicated his wish to continue and strengthen the Group's work in support of multi-faith healthcare chaplaincy. He emphasised his own interest in respect and tolerance in a changing world and indicated his wish to diffuse misunderstanding between all agencies in healthcare chaplaincy. He considered that unity between these agencies was most important.

The Chair's endorsement of The Queen's commonwealth message about multi-cultural issues had enabled him to write and support her comment as well as indicating how the Council was working in support. He read the reply from the Secretary which sent good wishes to him and all members of the Council.

4/05 Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 th September 2004 were agreed.

5/05 Review of Department of Health central allocation of funding for NHS chaplaincy (ref. min 40/04)

Mr James updated the Council on progress with his report along the following lines:

• The period of informal consultation was ending and a response from the Department of Health was expected in early February along with an updated report.

• The proposal to devolve funding had been focused on agreeing with South Yorkshire SHA that they should manage the funding stream for the central allocation.

• Three posts in support of chaplaincy administration had been agreed for the Free Churches, the Jewish community and the Muslim community.

• There was no agreement amongst the faith communities to the creation of a fourth post and he was recommending to Ministers that the funding reserved for this be made accessible for bids from the other faith communities and the Council itself.

• A special training event was to be held to assist members in formulating applications for grant aid under Section 64

Other Government Departments were beginning to take chaplaincy seriously and to co-ordinate activity across Government.

Mr James noted that the concerns of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church had not been met. Mr James was thanked for his update which was noted.

6/05 Communications strategy (ref min 40/04)

It was agreed that the Chair should convene a meeting along the lines suggested by the Council in September to develop communications support and a strategy for their use in support of the Council's work.

7/05 Conference on multi-faith chaplaincy – Monday 6 th June – St Thomas' Hospital, London (ref min 40/04)

It was reported that SYWDC had agreed funds to support the reconvening of the multi-faith consultation group in mid-2005 in order to report progress following the end of the 1997 work programme and the two years of the Group itself.

It was agreed that the Chair and Chief Officer would take this forward and members were asked to make suggestions for the programme.

8/05 Partnership working between chaplaincy bodies (ref min 44/04)

Ms Walsh updated the Council about progress with the development of partnership working over continuing personal and professional development (CPPD).

Following the meeting of representatives in September, she had consulted with chaplains about their views on partnership and CPPD lead responsibilities. She had identified a number of confusions (the originator of mailings, HCC/ MFGHC responsibilities, partial or full involvement of bodies) and had drafted a letter indicating both the resolution of these concerns and also the designation of lead responsibility for elements of CPPD to SYWDC, MFGHC and CHCC.

Both HCC and MFGHC had supported this proposal but the CHCC had indicated that it did not wish to give priority to this work. Accordingly, Ms Walsh was proposing to redraft her letter to indicate the point her discussions had reached and how the work would be taken forward with the involvement of chaplains direct. She considered it was of absolute necessity that partnership working should be achieved and that forward movement on the issues of importance be started.

There was discussion about the issues raised in this report. Members considered that it was necessary to retain the view that CHCC was always welcome and that there would always be a place within the Group and all the reports prepared by Council would be available. This was agreed and Robert Lloyd-Richards confirmed that CHCC was concerned that its voice was not always heard and that it was in close collaboration with other membership groups. He explained that the CHCC was seeking to develop a UK wide approach and therefore its involvement with purely national bodies was difficult.

Peter Speck suggested the Council's support for chaplaincy should be matched by CHCC's concern for chaplains and that a common agenda was possible. It was particularly important that there was unity of purpose for example in dealing with the Department of Health. He sensed a tension between the CHCC's work as a trade union and its support for a professional agenda and hoped that resolving this tension could be the key to more harmonious relations.

The Chair agreed with this analysis and considered that a multi-agency perspective would allow the Council to support both membership and faith bodies. The Council was not allied to employers or to the CHCC and would keep its doors open to all agencies working in healthcare chaplaincy. It was also pointed out that the CHCC's concern about UK wide issues should not hinder the CHCC's involvement nor should it dilute national views to a federal solution.

Barbara Walsh thanked the Council for a helpful discussion. She considered that the strategy work needed to move on and that chaplains should be fully involved in it. If it was not possible for CHCC to provide members in support, she would seek help from other sources.

9/05 Communications database (ref min 44/04)

Revd Geoffrey Roper referred to the difficulty, which Barbara Walsh had identified during the discussion about communications over CPPD, of keeping track of all chaplains working in healthcare. He wished to help with this problem and Barbara Walsh indicated that she had asked Lead Chaplains to collect contact details. Tim Battle suggested that the various databases could be shared provided there was a common purpose and appropriate protocols to govern their use.

This proposal was agreed by Council. The Chief Officer was asked to take this forward with a view to clarifying the work required and seeking grant aid funding in support.

10/05 Continuing Professional Development (ref min 44/04)

The Council noted the response made by the Chief Officer to the consultation on CPD currently undertaken by the Health Professions Council. It was agreed to wait until a final view was available before taking this further within the Education Committee.

11/05 Faith community representatives (ref min 47/04)

It was reported that Mrs Linda Coulter had been appointed on behalf of the Bahá'í community and that Revd Debbie Hodge had been appointed on behalf of the Free Churches Group. Further nominations were awaited from the Buddhist and Roman Catholic communities.

12/05 Draft standards for spiritual healthcare (ref min 45/04)

The Council received a revised copy of the draft standards proposed by the Standards Committee in the format which made handling simpler and the standards more accessible. A number of changes in wording were suggested for standards 8, 23 and 46, subject to which the standards were agreed.

Ron Maddox reported on discussion at the Standards Committee over how best to consult over the standards. He suggested a two-tier process with chaplains, chaplaincy bodies and patient organisations for two months and with the NHS subsequently for three months as a listening exercise. This process was agreed.

The Council approved these draft standards for consultation.

13/05 Authorisation processes

The Council received a paper from the Chief Officer suggesting the characteristics of an authorisation and nomination system and that these be tested with faith communities. This approach was approved.

14/05 MFGHC work programme 2005

The Council received and approved the work programme 2005.

15/05 Dates of next meetings

The Council agreed to meet again on Wednesday 18th May and Wednesday 14th September 2005 and on Wednesday 18th January 2006.

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