To provide strategic leadership and operational management of the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Service across the Trust, ensuring high-quality, inclusive pastoral, spiritual, and religious care for patients, families, carers, and staff, in line with NHS England Chaplaincy Guidelines (2023) and UKBHC standards.

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT), we care for over 600,000 people across five hospital sites and community services. Our vision is to provide safe, personal, and effective care every time. We are proud of our inclusive culture and commitment to staff wellbeing and development.

We are seeking an experienced and compassionateHead of Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care Service to lead and develop our multi‑faith chaplaincy team. This is a senior leadership role responsible for ensuring high‑quality, inclusive spiritual, religious, and pastoral care for patients, families, and staff across the Trust.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and operational management of the Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care Service.
• Ensure compliance with NHS England Chaplaincy Guidelines and UKBHC standards.
• Deliver staff wellbeing initiatives, including reflective practice and critical incident support.
• Build strong partnerships with local faith and belief communities.
• Lead service development, workforce planning, and governance reporting.

Leadership & Governance

• Lead and manage the multi‑faith chaplaincy team, honorary chaplains, and volunteers.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate the Trust’s Spiritual Care Strategy.
• Ensure compliance with Equality Act 2010 and UKBHC Code of Conduct.
• Manage departmental budget and charitable funds.

Service Delivery

• Provide pastoral, spiritual, and religious care to patients, staff, and families.
• Ensure 24/7 on‑call provision for urgent spiritual care needs.
• Organise and lead acts of worship, memorial services, and sacraments as required.
• Respond to referrals from clinical teams and deliver specialist spiritual care programmes.

Staff Wellbeing & Education

• Offer staff support, debriefing, and reflective practice sessions.
• Deliver training on spiritual care for clinical and non‑clinical staff.
• Support suicide prevention and trauma response initiatives.

Partnership & Engagement

• Liaise with local faith and belief communities.
• Promote inclusive access for all religions and beliefs, including non‑religious pastoral care.

Quality & Assurance

• Monitor service performance using UKBHC audit tools.
• Report to Quality & Patient Experience Committees.
• Maintain information governance compliance for chaplaincy records.

This advert closes on Monday 26 Jan 2026.