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"Hospital Chaplains should seek opportunities to increase greater awareness in the Church of England and within our society of their role in health and healing." This is just one of the challenges contained in A Time to Heal, a Report given towards the end of last year to the House of Bishops. Your local Hospital Chaplaincy is taking up the challenge and, by way of this and future articles, we hope to share more widely an awareness of this Ministry which is both ours - and yours! A few facts about your local Chaplaincy Team We are a formally registered 'Ecumen-ical Partnership', comprising five full-time clergy employed by the NHS: David Gynes (Team Leader and Methodist), Frank Hillebrand and Peter Jones (Anglican), Elgan Evans (Baptist) and Bill O'Connell (RC). Currently we have a vacancy for a further Anglican priest - the balance of the Team would suggest we need a female. In addition the Chaplaincy has 16 trained and accredited Voluntary Assistants, both lay and ordained, from all the major denominations. St George's and other local Churches also come in on a rota basis to help on Sunday mornings with wheeling our patients from Ward to Chapel and back again. All these volunteers are vital to our work. We operate a 24-hour, 365 day a year service dedicated to 'caring for the patients, their relatives and carers, and the staff of the Queen Alexandra and St Mary's Hospitals'. With 1,100 beds, an average patient stay of just 2.5 days, and 7,000 staff, we face a demanding challenge week by week as we attempt to visit all ward areas regularly and deal with the many emergencies and tragedies that arise day by day. To all we offer supportive listening, prayer and full Sacramental ministry. We are sustained by our daily Chapel prayer, the mid-week Eucharists (both Ecumenical and RC), and the Services on Sundays in both Hospital Chapels. We are also grateful for the prayer supporting us from both individuals and parishes. A partnership between Parish and Hospital The whole work of the Parish and the Hospital is rooted in the ministry of Christ - God's healing gift to the world. So ministry in Parish, Cathedral, Hospital, Diocesan Office, and the many other forms of ministry in which Christ's people engage either as individuals or as the Church, are like pieces of the same jigsaw - all seeking to help people and communities in the journey towards the wholeness that is God's hope for His world. Do the links between Hospital and the Parish need strengthening? The people who are patients and workers in our hospitals are parishioners of yours, and it therefore surely makes sense for us: to be deeply aware of each other, assisting, informing and enriching each other's ministries wherever possible to support one another in prayer and in personal ways to collaborate effectively in caring for parishioners in hospital. How can we move forward in our collaboration? Could you help by joining the Sunday Wheeling Team? Might you be called to join our weekday team of Chaplaincy Assistants? (It isn't for everyone, and involves a process of discernment, selection and a Training Scheme - you should talk this over carefully with Fr Malcolm first). Frank Hillebrand and Peter Jones |
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page last updated 1 JUNE 2001 |
