Organisational structures and personal spiritual belief

This paper is based on the author's experience of working with NHS chaplains who may or may not have worked in palliative care areas. 'A Framework for Spiritual, Faith and Related Pastoral Care' (1995), developed in response to 'The Patient's Charter' (Department of Health (DoH) 1991) provides much of the material that underpins this paper. While certain material within this paper relates directly to palliative care, the main thrust concerns the principles that sustain good organisational practice when trying to meet the increasingly diverse spiritual needs of patients. The Framework paper on which this is based recognises the major changes that have occurred in the nature of care delivery and, therefore, the way in which traditional approaches to chaplaincy have been modified. This paper outlines a number of strategies that can be pursued to facilitate this change and concludes with some specific observations about the significance of change for the palliative care arena.