Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

• Ordained Priest or Lay minister in good standing with their faith community or authorising body and having permission to practice.
• Evidence of continuing personal and professional development.

Desirable

• Experience of Healthcare Chaplaincy
• Training in Health Care Chaplaincy
• Membership of the College of Health Care Chaplains (CHCC), subscribing to its Code of Practice and Professional Conduct.
• Membership of the United Kingdom Board for Health Care Chaplaincy (UKHBC)

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Good presentation, training, and teaching skills with an ability to engage with others.
• To be able to discern, assess, and provide for the Spiritual, Emotional, and Religious needs of patients, relatives, and staff, whatever their philosophy, belief, and value systems
• To be able to make independent, specialized judgements regarding their care.

Desirable

• Counselling Training and De-briefing experience.
• Specialist knowledge of NHS guidance and directives on delivering Spiritual Care within the NHS.
• Specialist knowledge of all aspects of Spiritual Care and how this is applied to other faiths and cultural traditions.
• To be able to work in an Ecumenical and Multi-faith and non-faith team

Values

Essential

• Values and respects others, treats everyone as an individual, and is non-judgmental
• Motivated to be genuinely kind and caring
• Supports and cooperates with colleagues
• Pro-active, takes responsibility, and is willing to learn, open to change.
• Motivated to make a difference in whatever way they can
• Takes pride in themselves, their appearance, their role, and where they work.

Specific Skills

Essential

• Ability to work on own initiative, whilst co-ordinating a team and remaining accountable to the Lead Chaplain
• An excellent team player committed to teamwork and the development of other people
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to develop good communication with a range of people about difficult, challenging, distressing, or sensitive matters in equally difficult or distressing situations.
• Ability to deliver care with kindness, compassion, dignity, and respect, even when one’s own values are being challenged
• Committed to accepting and supporting others across the full Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion agenda, free from prejudice or bias. Understanding of Equality and Diversity legislation.
• Ability to handle highly sensitive, confidential, or contentious information in a highly emotive or hostile atmosphere, working consistently under stress.
• Ability to provide Spiritual and Religious Care for the dying, critically ill, and newly bereaved, including those experiencing sudden death or pregnancy loss.
• Ability to enable others from any faith and none to address their spiritual needs in a manner consistent with their own culture, background, values, and beliefs.
• Capable of preparing and leading corporate acts of worship that have spiritual significance
• Good level of competence in administration, computer skills (Database, Email, Word processing, Trust eLearning). Effective time management, including keeping to deadlines and the ability to work flexibly.

Desirable

• To respond to all referrals to Spiritual Care Services and be willing to offer support during a Major Incident.

Physical Skills & Effort Emotional Effort

Essential

• Requires good physical, mental, and emotional stamina. To be able to walk substantial distances around the hospital for long periods of standing.
• To be able to work creatively as part of a team or as a lone worker.
• Ability to recognise and manage personal stress and to maintain clear judgments and decisions under pressure.
• Sustained exposure to high-level emotional distress in breaking news of a close family member’s death, and being present in the hospital mortuary to support bereaved family members to see their loved ones.
• Ability to respond promptly to on-call requests, with the ability to travel off-site as and when required, including being able to undertake full on-call duties

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).