Hansard

Health: Chaplaincy

Volume 691: debated on Friday 20 April 2007

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The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many National Health Service acute trusts in England no longer provide an out-of-hours chaplaincy and spiritual care service; and what alternative arrangements are being made to provide specialist support for the dying in trusts which have discontinued a 24-hours chaplaincy service. [HL2987]

The Minister of State, Department of Health
(Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)

The department does not collect data on National Health Service hospital chaplaincy.

The department remains committed to the guidance NHS Chaplaincy: Meeting the Religious and Spiritual Needs of Patients and Staff, issued to NHS trusts in November 2003 about patients' access to spiritual care, irrespective of their faith or beliefs.

NHS trusts are responsible for delivering religious and spiritual care in a way that meets the diverse needs of their patients. How they do so is a matter for local determination.