Susan Davis

WDTK

Ref: 13 FOI 049

19thApril 2013

Dear Ms Davis,

I am writing to confirm that the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) has now completed its search for the information that you requested on the 25th of March2013.

I would like to request the following information on standards,policies and procedures relating to hospital chaplains in yourTrust.
Could you please:
1. tell me whether policies or procedures exist to:
a. establish whether a patient admitted to any of your hospitalsdoes or does not wish to receive contact from a hospital chaplain– Please see response below.
b. ensure that patients (or their visitors, next-of-kin etc.) donot received unsolicited contact from chaplains- Please see response below.
c. safeguard patients’ personal and medical data such that hospitalchaplains by default do not have access to it - Please see response below.
d. ensure that hospital chaplains, when given access to patientdata, do not share any of it with third parties – This is covered by the “Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice” because they are contracted NHS employees.

In respect of your above questions, CNWL NHS Foundation Trust does not directly employ Chaplains. In three of our localities (The Gordon Hospital, SK&C Mental Health Unit and St Charles Hospital) we have formal contracts, otherwise known as Service Level Agreements (SLA) with the Multi-faith Chaplaincy Teams of the local Acute NHS Trusts for them to provide Chaplaincy services when required by our inpatients.The SLA in relation to St Charles needs reviewing and this has been brought to the attention of the services concerned.

The Service level Agreements state the number and type of sessions that will be delivered as well as the local contract monitoring arrangements. As the Chaplains are themselves NHS employees within their NHS Trusts – either Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust or Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, their professional practice is managed and governed by their own NHS contracts of employment. I attach below copies of the Chaplaincy SLAs for both the Gordon Hospital and St Charles Hospital that we have with Imperial Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Our inpatient units at Park Royal and at Northwick Park Hospital use a team of volunteer faith visitors to provide faith & spiritual support to patients. They are bound by an Honorary Employment Contract with CNWL and work to operational guidelines. Please find these attached below.

The activities of all CNWL employees.including those with honorary contracts, with regard to faith & spiritual support are also bound by the CNWL Faith and Spiritual Support Policy, again a copy of this is attached below.

If you answered yes to any of the above, please could you provideme with copies of the relevant policies or procedures

2. Outline your approach for monitoring adherence to the policiesand procedures aboveAny information related to this is provided within the SLA’s.
3. provide me with a summary of the results of this monitoring forthe last five years, including rates of compliance with thepolicies and procedures, and severity of any non-compliance events

Representatives from the services attend regular faith and spirituality meetings where such matters are discussed. I can confirm that there have been no non-compliant events.
4. provide me with details of any action taken in respect of anynon-compliance identified (e.g. tightening of procedures,disciplinary action – in the latter case, taking care not todisclose any personal information)Not applicable.

You have sought access to the information by means of email, and I consider this an appropriate form of access in this case. Accordingly, the information that we hold is listedor attached above.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications relating to this request.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any noncommercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.

This concludes your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your request please contact the Trust Head of Information Governance(Dr Araripe Garboggini) at the above address or via email at

If you are still unsatisfied, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner is the statutory regulator for the Freedom of Information Act. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the procedures provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Heness

Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer

13 FOI 049 Response

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