Head of Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care Services.

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

Main duties of the job

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 programs.
• 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.

About us

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 compassionate Head of Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care Services 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.

You will:

• 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.

Job responsibilities

Leadership & Governance

• Lead and manage the multi-faith chaplaincy team, honorary chaplains, and volunteers.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate the Trusts 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 programs.
• 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.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level (or equivalent) in a relevant subject (eg counselling, pastoral care, psychology, psychotherapy, religious studies or theology).
• Masters level degree or recent evidence of working towards this with agreement to complete a masters with demonstrable outcomes of learning relevant to healthcare chaplaincy that includes systematic study in any of the following fields: counselling, pastoral care, psychology, psychotherapy, religious studies or theology).
• Counselling qualification and professional registration
• Leadership qualification or equivalent experience
• Teaching/mentoring qualification or equivalent experience
• Evidence of ongoing continuous professional development
• Eligible to be authorised by appropriate faith or belief group to practice as a healthcare chaplain
• Registered or eligible to hold registration to hold of the UKBHC

Experience

• Experience of undertaking teaching/training
• Evidence of leading new initiatives in the field of pastoral, spiritual and religious care
• Significant experience in chaplaincy in a setting involving extensive support to people with complex health needs
• Experience of providing spiritual care within a secular setting to people of any or no faith.
• Demonstrate experience of pastoral skills to meet the needs of patients, carers and staff.
• Experience of leadership in a team context
• Working in close co-operation with others of differing professional backgrounds
• Using counselling skills in pastoral care
• Offering appropriate liturgical or ritual support to people with a variety of beliefs in non-faith settings
• Experience of working in a multi-faith/belief context
• Able to evidence managing diverse colleagues and volunteers

Knowledge and skills

• Highly effective communication skills
• Analytical and decision making skills
• Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills
• Ability to lead and coordinate research and audit activity
• Ability to prioritise a wide range of strategic and operational issues on a daily basis
• Able to interpret need and respond appropriately.

Personal

• Able to work in accordance with Trust Values and Behaviours.
• Committed to continual quality and service improvement.
• Self-aware and committed to continual professional and personal development. Able to accept and respond positively to feedback from supervision.
• Committed to promoting a positive image of people with mental health conditions and learning disabilities.
• Committed to promoting a positive image of the Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care Service, the Directorate and the wider Trust.
• Enthusiastic for the post with a firm belief in the efficacy of Chaplaincy within an acute setting
• Able to work as part of a Team
• Highly motivated and enthusiastic
• Flexible and adaptable
• Takes responsibility of own professional development

Other

• Able to comply with ELHT policy and procedures
• Ability to work appropriate hours to meet the needs of the service
• Hold a driving licence/ ability to travel independently in accordance with Trust policies and service need
• In good standing with a faith or belief community affiliated to the Network for Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care in Health, and eligible to be duly accredited by a recognised authority within it.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.