Chaplains provide pastoral and spiritual care to patients, their families, NHS and Social Care staff and visitors to healthcare settings . They offer support during difficult times, such as illness, loss, and end-of-life care, and help individuals explore their religious or spiritual beliefs. Chaplains also facilitate religious services and practices within healthcare settings
Working life
As a Chaplain, you will be a leader in your own faith and expected to work closely with those of other faiths and beliefs through your work.
Working as a Chaplain will mean that you’ll take part in a variety of different tasks during your working day. These can include:
- Providing pastoral and spiritual care – Chaplains offer counselling, guidance, and support to individuals facing various challenges, including illness, bereavement, and emotional distress.
- Supporting religious practices – Chaplains facilitate religious services, such as prayers, worship, and sacraments, within healthcare facilities.
- Working with diverse beliefs – Chaplains work with individuals from various faith backgrounds and those with no religious affiliation, ensuring inclusivity and respect for diverse beliefs.
- Supporting healthcare staff – Chaplains provide spiritual support and pastoral care to NHS and Social Care staff, recognising the emotional and spiritual needs of those working in healthcare.
- Promoting well-being – Chaplains contribute to the overall well-being of patients and staff by addressing spiritual and emotional needs, which can positively impact physical health and recovery.
Requirements
Working as a Chaplain requires that you are an accredited leader in a recognised faith community and usually have a professional qualification or a degree.
NHS and Social Care employers expect Chaplains to have experience as a leader in their own faith and to be able to demonstrate experience in providing spiritual and pastoral care.
Some employers may also ask for previous experience of working or volunteering in a healthcare environment such as working as a faith leader in a hospital in a prior role.
Personal characteristics
To work successfully as a healthcare Chaplain, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be flexible and willing to work with people of all faiths
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences
- Be reassuring and supportive when dealing with service users or their families
- Be interested in people
- Be able to stay calm in challenging situations
- To be able to work well with healthcare professionals
Skills required
To work successfully as a Chaplain, you need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods
- Have excellent communication skills
- Have a high level of empathy
Training and development opportunities
Chaplains who are just joining a healthcare employer will have access to a training programme which offers:
- Introductions to healthcare Chaplaincy
- Support on working within the NHS and Social Care
- Support on working with people who are mentally ill
- Support on providing spirituality and chaplaincy in an environment of multi faiths
There may also be opportunities to study a Postgraduate qualification as part of your role. Topics could include healthcare chaplaincy or counselling.
A voluntary register of healthcare chaplains in the UK is maintained by the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy (UKBHC).
The Professional Standards Authority accredits a number of voluntary registers against its standards including governance, setting standards for registrants, education and training, managing the register. These voluntary registers include the UKBHC register
Career development opportunities
Once you have experience working as a Chaplain, there are other roles you could progress into. You could lead a team, become a supervisor working with other chaplains or develop your career into management overseeing the chaplaincy work in a hospital or NHS Trust. There are also lots of opportunities to work outside of the NHS.
Pay and benefits
Chaplains working in the NHS usually work around 37.5 hours per week and will work evenings and weekends to ensure you are available to support those who need you. You may also be required to work as part of an on-call rota.
Chaplains in the NHS are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system and will typically start their career on AfC band 5 but with experience, further training and additional qualifications, could apply for the role of a Chaplain team leader and start your career at a band 6 or 7.
Chaplaincy team members working in Social Care settings will be paid according to the employer they work for and the remuneration for the role should always be shown on their job advert.
Other benefits of working in Human Resources include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as a Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.
For further information and advice on becoming a Chaplain, visit the NHS England Chaplaincy Programme website