Chaplain

Job summary

Are you passionate about providing compassionate, inclusive care to patients, families, and staff? Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a dedicated Chaplain to join our Department of Spiritual and Pastoral Care.

As a Chaplain, you will offer pastoral, spiritual and religious support across the Trust, responding to referrals, visiting wards and departments regularly, and participating in a 24/7 on-call rota for urgent and emergency care. You will play a vital role in bereavement care, including delivering the Trust's contract funeral service for families experiencing pregnancy or baby loss, child bereavement, or for adults without next of kin.

You'll act as a specialist resource on spiritual, religious, pastoral and ethical matters, working closely with internal colleagues and external faith and belief communities to ensure high-quality, inclusive care.

If you are committed to supporting people through some of life's most challenging moments and have the experience to offer sensitive, professional guidance, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

About us

We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.

We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation.

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as 'outstanding' for care and our King's Mill Hospital as the only 'outstanding' NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands.

Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. To find out which roles are eligible, please refer to the shortage occupation list found here:

Skilled Worker visa: eligible healthcare and education jobs - GOV.UK

Home Office guidance has changed as of 9th April. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.

Job responsibilities

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

This is a part-time role for 30 hours (4 days) per week plus inclusion on the out of hours on call rota. Days worked to be agreed. The post is based at King's Mill Hospital but covers all 3 hospital sites within the Trust.

Person specification

Skills and Knowledge Requirements

Essential

• Theological or equivalent study and training appropriate to your faith or belief community
• In depth knowledge of own faith or belief group teaching, tradition and practices, and an ability to apply this knowledge in a health care context - particularly in relation to birth, death and illness
• Working knowledge of faith and belief systems other than one's own, and the ability to apply this knowledge working in a secular multi-cultural, multifaith and belief context
• Demonstrable knowledge and a commitment to working in an ecumenical, multi-faith or belief, and multi-cultural way, with an openness to the views and doubts of others
• Able to work under pressure and prioritise and adapt to changing circumstances
• Able to work as part of a team and autonomously
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to listen well
• Able to provide or facilitate the provision of sacraments/rites and spiritual needs appropriate to the patient's own faith/belief
• Proficient in the use of IT to enable electronic recording of patient notes and appropriate sharing of information and the production of orders of service

Desirable

• Administrative Skills
• Demonstrable experience and skills in delivering effective training and education relating to pastoral and spiritual care

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree qualification
• Authorised or Licenced and recognised by your faith or belief community as a representative appropriate to operate as a Healthcare Chaplain

Desirable

• PG Qualification in Healthcare Chaplaincy
• Membership of the UKBHC as a registered chaplain or able to apply for this

Further Training

Desirable

• Qualification in an area which requires the practice of significant pastoral care skills. For example, counselling, certificate of ministry, ordination/ministerial, qualification caring for the sick or vulnerable

Experience

Essential

• Significant previous experience in providing spiritual and pastoral care in a range of contexts
• Experience of supporting the dying and bereaved
• Experience of responding in a pastoral care crisis

Desirable

• Previous healthcare chaplaincy employment.
• Previous experience of managing staff. Experience of crisis work e.g. traumatic injury, death or major incident.
• Able to facilitate services such as memorials or worship services in a wide variety of settings.
• Understanding of current issues in the NHS
• Experience of collaborative working in a multi-faith/belief setting.
• Have proven experience in pastoral, spiritual, religious care in complex, emotional or distressing situations in a healthcare setting.
• Experience of training and supervising volunteers
• Demonstrable experience and skills in delivering effective training and education relating to pastoral and spiritual care.

Contractual Requirements

Essential

• Availability for on call rota working anti-social hours out of hours, weekends and on bank holidays
• Car driver and with a vehicle insured for business use
• Live within an area which allows a 1 hour response time
• Able to work flexibly to support service provision