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Multi-Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy

.....advancing multi-faith healthcare chaplaincy.

MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT ELIZABETH HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ON WEDNESDAY 24 MAY 2006

Present:

Rabbi Martin van den Bergh – in the Chair

Mr Kobad Avari
Mrs Linda Coulter
Rev Robert Evans
Revd Debbie Hodge
Gen Tubchen Kelsang
Hon Barney Leith
Revd Edward Lewis
Revd Jim Linthicum
Mr Sital Maan
Mr Ronald Maddox
Revd Fr Paul Mason
Mr Baldev Mawi
Revd Louise Morrissey
Mr Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
HM Shafique Rahman
Mr Kishor Ruparelia
Revd Fr Peter Scott
Mr Alan Wittrick

In attendance:
Mr Simon Goulden Rabbi Z M Salasnik

1/06 Welcome

The Chair welcomed Mr Avari on behalf of the Zoroastrian Community and Mr Goulden and Rabbi Salasnik observing on behalf of the Jewish Community.

2/06 Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Ervad Rustam Bhedwar, Mrs Joy Conway, Mr Bimal Krsna das, Mr Derek Thomson and Rev Preb Peter Speck.

3/06 Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 th September 2005 were agreed subject to the addition of Mr Derek Thomson to the list of those present and the addition of the phrase “Mr Mueen-Uddin briefed the Council about the progress of his work” to minute 35/05.

4/06 MFGHC grant application 2006-07 (ref. min 38/05)

The Council noted that the application for funding to the Faith Communities Development Fund had been successful in obtaining a grant of £5K for the development of knowledge and skills in 2006-07. The Executive Committee had suggested that priority should be given to those faith communities without other means.

It was agreed that “bids” against these funds should be submitted by the end of June for consideration by the Executive Committee in July .

5/06 The central allocation for chaplaincy 2006-07 (ref. min 39/05)

Alan Wittrick reported that SYSHA had received nothing in writing from the Department of Health for 2006-07. He endorsed the informal view already expressed about the possibility of an allocation around £180K but could not confirm this. He indicated that Derek Thomson was preparing the process for grant applications for this funding and would communicate that as soon as possible.

The Chair indicated that he was meeting on 4 th July with Mr Ivan Lewis, Under Secretary of State, to discuss progress with this allocation

6/06 Launch event for the resources for multi-faith chaplaincy (ref. min 42/05)

The Council noted that the press release arising from the January launch event in Doncaster attended by the Secretary of State at which the Vice-Chair had spoken. The Chair thanked Alan Wittrick for the support and help given by SHA staff to this event.

7/06 Authorisation processes – progress report at May 2006

The Council received a paper reporting progress with the development of authorisation processes within the world faith communities. It was noted that this was based on submissions from all communities and the Chair congratulated all concerned on the progress made. He acknowledged that there was more to do particularly in support of the Zoroastrian Community

8/06 The Mirfield Report

The Council received a copy of the Mirfield Report for consideration.

In introducing discussion, the Chair welcomed the report and regretted that his period of illness at the New Year had prevented him attending. He suggested that the Council should support the view that all stakeholders including the faith communities represented on MFGHC should have an effective role in determining the direction of spiritual healthcare services along the lines suggested in paragraph 67 and that the process should evolve and not be imposed.

In discussion, members were supportive of the action proposed. There were queries about the form of regulation and about the balance of involvement between chaplains and other members. At the same time, the need for some form of “chaplaincy commission” had been mooted as long ago as 1997 so this was not a new idea.

It was agreed that members should send their further comments to the Administrator/ Chief Officer for consideration by the July meeting of the Executive Committee which should agree a response.

9/06 Election of Honorary Officers 2007-08

It was noted that the election process for Honorary Officers would commence in September in accordance with the procedure used last time.

10/06 Membership by bodies which represent those of no particular faith/ religion

There was discussion about whether these groups should be involved with healthcare chaplaincy through membership of the MFGHC. Arguments were mostly against this change but there were those who considered that involvement was more profitable than exclusion and also that the care of patients of no particular faith was a common principle justifying inclusion.

It was agreed that a paper setting out the arguments be considered by the Council in January 2007.

11/06 Chair and Vice Chair's report – May 2006

The Chair reported his appointment as Rabbi to a community in Hong Kong which he had agreed to take up in October 2006. Members congratulated Martin van den Bergh on this appointment. It was noted that the Vice Chair would act as Chair for the remainder of the year.

The Chair had met with the Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health in December 2006. This had been a helpful meeting but nothing new had been promised.

The Chair had also agreed to represent the Council on the project group for the Caring for the Spirit NHS project. He had attended one meeting and had been able to contribute fully and usefully.

The Vice Chair reported further on the launch event in Doncaster and on the Sikh community's meeting in Edinburgh in June. He had also accepted an invitation to speak at a multi-faith meeting in Derby in July.

12/06 Chief Officer's report – May 2006

Edward Lewis thanked all those who had been in contact during Katherine's recent illness. Her treatment was progressing and she was strengthened by the kindnesses shown by so many.

The Chief Officer had attended the recent meeting of the European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy held in Lisbon. The Network had 38 groups in membership from across Europe. It was agreed to invite the Co-ordinator of the Network to meet with the Council when appropriate. It was also agreed to determine whether the work of MFGHC might attract a grant from the EU.

The Chief Officer reported on the debate about hospital chaplaincy within the Church of England General Synod at its February meeting which had been attended by the Chair MFGHC who had been welcomed by the chair of the debate. The content of the debate had been generally supportive and encouraging.

13/06 Education Committee report – May 2006

The Council received the May progress report of the Education Committee for information.

14/06 Standards Committee report – May 2006

The Council received the May progress report of the Standards Committee for information.

15/06 Progress of the listening exercise on quality standards

The Standards Committee had met in November 2005 to review the outcome of the listening exercise with chaplains on quality standards of spiritual healthcare held during the summer period. Several comments had been received and a clearer and fuller document is available as a result. A copy is attached for information.

The second stage of the listening exercise was to be a consultation with NHS bodies via SHAs planned for early in 2006. This has not taken place because of the re-structuring of NHS management allied to which those in place currently have been tasked with resolving issues of financial stewardship against which the issue of standards in spiritual healthcare looks minor.

At one stage, it was possible that this listening exercise could be undertaken with NHS Trusts direct in the period at the end of April. Unfortunately, the contacts addresses for Trusts were not readily available and the timescale has therefore slipped further. Currently, the proposal is that the listening exercise with NHS bodies should be re-planned for later in 2006 or thereafter when the nature and scale of the bodies themselves is clear.

In the meantime, the Council agreed that the current set of standards should be commended to SHAs.

16/06 NHS Standards for spiritual healthcare

Despite the difficulty of the NHS restructuring, the Chief Officer was able to report that discussions with the Healthcare Commission had established that the Commission would link the inspection of core standard C13a (healthcare organisations have systems in place to ensure that staff treat patients, their relatives and carers with dignity and respect) to the need to take “…into account different interpretations of dignity and respect for people from different faiths….” Effectively this provided for an inspection of spiritual healthcare albeit a connection which was rather tortuous and remote.

In discussion, it was agreed that this linkage by the Healthcare Commission was helpful, but there was still a necessity to establish care of spiritual needs as a core NHS standard on its own rather than either an adjunct to privacy and dignity or as a development standard for consideration in due course. The Council agreed that, as an objective, it would seek to reach agreement with the Departments of Health that the current NHS developmental standard D2 (b) (Patients receive effective treatment and care that take account of their individual preferences and meet their physical, cultural, spiritual and psychological needs and preferences) should be made a core standard by the end of 2007.

The Chief Officer was asked to take this forward and to report progress to the next meeting.

17/05 Dates of next meetings

The Council agreed to meet again on Tuesday 5th September 2006 and Wednesday 24th January 2007.

The meeting ended with reflective silence.

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