The historical dimension of chaplaincy appointments
In the early days of chaplaincy in the NHS the church used to either appoint a chaplain to the health care context or provide a candidate whom the hospital simply employed. Often chaplaincy provision was handled by means of Service Level Agreements whereby the church ensured that a relevant member of the clergy worked in that context.
The advent of the Thatcher reforms in the NHS saw a significant change in chaplaincy. Trusts became more aware of chaplaincy and began to utilise their services more widely. There was a significant growth in posts with press advertisements being placed nationally for application. Interviews, in these cases, comprised a local faith representative, usually the bishop’s adviser and an assessor from Hospital Chaplaincy Council which ran the assessors panel. This was in keeping with the Church of England being the major church body. These people sat alongside the Trust’s own staff in the interview process. In Scotland, chaplains have been directly employed since 2001 and there were no assessors, and a similar situation existed in Wales and Northern Ireland.
All assessors’ panels were disbanded under Whitley Council when Agenda for Change came into being in 2004 (see DH publication). Many professional bodies took on the responsibility to provide professional advisers/assessors at interviews to facilitate management to discern suitability for appointments.
UKBHC now provide trained Professional Advisers. The Professional Advisers are all serving chaplains with a minimum of 5 years full time experience in chaplaincy and are fully conversant with chaplaincy and the relevant health care contexts. They are fully trained and able to advise health care contexts on all areas of chaplaincy appointments.
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| DoH Assessors paper.pdf | 52.19 KB |