UN/APPROVED

NHS GRAMPIAN

Minutes of NHSGrampian Spiritual Care Committee

held on Thursday 10 November 2005 at 2.00pm to 4.00pm

in the Conference Room, Summerfield House

PRESENT

Mr Jim Royan, Chairman, NHS Grampian (Chair)

Captain Jane Alton, Salvation Army

Ms Agnes Cook, Community Forum Member

Rev Fred Coutts, Chaplain ARI (Head of Spiritual Care, NHS Grampian)

Rev Harvey Grainger, Presbytery of Aberdeen

Mrs Laura Gray, Director of Corporate Communications

Mrs Sue Kinsey, Lay Member

Dr Amr Mahdy, Clinical Lecturer & Specialist Registrar, ARI

Mrs Elizabeth McDade, Non Executive Board Member

Mr John McKinnon, Project Manager, HAI, NHS Grampian

Mr Bill Mitchell, Support Services Manager

Mrs Elinor Smith, Associate Nurse Director, NHS Grampian

Ms Liz Tait, Clinical Governance Co-ordinator, Moray Community Health Partnership (via telephone conference) (Items 1 to 7 only)

IN ATTENDANCE

Mrs Marjory Main, PA to Chairman and Chief Executive, NHS Grampian

Item / Subject / Action /
1. / WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Mr Royan thanked everyone for their attendance, with a special welcome to Liz Tait who was telephone conferencing from Elgin. Mr Royan explained that he would have to leave the meeting early as he had to travel to Edinburgh to attend the Daily Record Scottish Health Service Awards ceremony that evening. He was delighted to report that there were four nominations for awards from NHS Grampian.
APOLOGIES
Mr Nigel Firth
Ms Helen Grant
Rev Muriel Knox
Mrs Kitty McDonald
Mrs Laura McKenna
Ms Margaret Moffat
Mr David Pattullo
Mr Allan Reid
The committee was sorry to learn that Mrs Laura McKenna was currently in hospital following a road traffic accident. Mrs Gray agreed to convey the members’ best wishes for a full recovery. / LG
2. / NOTE OF MEETING HELD ON 18 August 2005
Subject to the inclusion of Mrs Sue Kinsey in Apologies, the note was accepted as a true record.
3.
5. / MATTERS ARISING FROM MEETING HELD ON 18 AUGUST 2005
a)  Data Protection and recording of religions: Mr Coutts and Mrs Smith had pursued this matter since the previous committee meeting. David Tosh is reviewing nursing records in the acute sector and will connect with community hospitals to seek a common practice of recording patients’ religious affiliations including those without specified religious beliefs. Mrs Smith will introduce Mr Coutts to lead nurses in the acute and community sectors. Mr Coutts was satisfied that ‘bridges are being built’ locally.
b)  Employment matters: Mrs Gray reported that a small working group had been established to consider the transfer of employment arrangements, given single system working and the implications of Agenda for Change as it was now understood that hospital chaplains would be included in the Agenda for Change process. Mr Royan said he was taking a personal interest in this high level issue and wished to be kept sighted on developments.
c)  Intranet/Internet: Mrs Gray advised there was no progress to report as the re-launch of the NHS Grampian web site had taken priority.
d)  Induction Handbook: The text pertaining to chaplaincy service throughout NHS Grampian in the staff induction handbook does not reflect the current position. Mr Coutts tabled revised wording for inclusion in the document. This was approved.
The Chairman asked for agenda items 5 and 6 be taken next.
Review of Spiritual Care Policy
The small review group, comprising Committee members, had concluded
its examination of all the comments received to date on the Spiritual Care
Policy revision draft. Generally, the revised policy had been well
Received. The amended policy would now be submitted to the Grampian
Area Partnership Forum for adoption and then presented to the Grampian
NHS Board for ratification. A copy of the revised policy will be issued to
the Operational Management Team for information. Mr Royan thanked
the review team for scrutinising the policy and confirmed that the Spiritual
Care Committee was satisfied with the review/consultation process in
Terms of corporate governance. / ES/FC
LG/FC
LG
6. / Annual Report of Chaplaincy
Mr Coutts presented the first annual report on the work of healthcare chaplains in NHS Grampian, which had been considered by the whole time chaplains group and discussed with sessional chaplains, and invited comments from the committee. Mrs Smith commended the report as an interesting read which highlighted the broad range of activities undertaken by the hospital chaplains’ team in developing the awareness of spiritual care throughout NHS Grampian. Mr Royan highlighted a number of specific issues in the report and commented on these. He reported that, as a result of savings achieved by the redesign of the diagnostic and treatment centre (DTC) and changes in cardiology services, a site for the chapel at Dr Gray’s Hospital had been identified. It is intended that work on providing the new chapel will commence when the DTC is relocated. He further advised that the chapel at the new Children’s Hospital had been visited by Her Majesty the Queen during her recent visit to officially open the new hospital. Her Majesty had been impressed by the facilities which have been provided to make it accessible to members of individual faith groups as well as private worship.
Although much had been achieved in the past two years, there remained a number of significant issues to be resolved, including identifying appropriate funding streams to fund a range of requirements, in a time of financial constraint. Mrs Gray advised that, once the Spiritual Care Policy had been formally approved, the SCC would revisit the action plan and draw up a list of priorities. Agenda item for next meeting.
Discussion followed on mechanisms to effectively distribute the annual report to a wide audience, including staff and other targetted groups. It was agreed this would be achieved through ‘Up Front’, the internet/intranet and the PFPI committee.
Mr Royan left the meeting at this point and asked Mrs McDade to take over as chair. / FC/LG
4.
7. / Denominational Chaplaincy
Noted discussion paper dated 12 May 2005 from Mr Coutts. It was
agreed to bring this to a future meeting of the SCC for debate.
Religions and Cultures in Grampian
Copies of a draft document were circulated to members for noting. A final
printed version will be produced by the in-house Graphics Team. Again,
the final document will be promoted in ‘Up Front’, the internet and the
resources database so that clinical areas can access it. It was generally
agreed that the booklet was an extremely helpful and informative guide
and thanks were expressed to all who had contributed to it. / LG
8.
9. / Chaplaincy and Management changes/arrangements after June 2006
Mr Coutts referred to the current consultation on the redesign of clinical and management services within the acute sector, although management arrangements for chaplains did not appear to be part of the consultation. He assumed that existing chaplaincy management arrangements would continue although some thought needed to be given to where chaplaincy ‘fits’ in the new structure. Mrs Gray said that it had been recognised for some time that the existing arrangements were not causing any problems but may no longer be appropriate given single system working. In addition, the transfer of employment of chaplains to the NHS and the implications of Agenda for Change made it even more relevant to consider future management arrangements. She proposed that the existing small group established to consider the transfer of employment issues extend its remit to include management arrangements. She invited any member of the SCC who might be interested in joining this group to contact her in the first instance.
Spiritual Interest Group
Mr Coutts made the SCC aware of an informal group, facilitated by the Clinical Psychologist at Roxburghe House, which provides a focus whereby the spiritual needs of staff can be met and also helps staff in their day to day work, highlighting the importance of spiritual care. This group was seeking financial assistance to hold a small event to promote its work and widen participation. SCC members felt there was a potential for confusion in relation to the role of the informal group and the role of the SCC and agreed that the work of the informal group should be complimentary to that of the SCC. No source of funding could be identified and Mr Coutts was asked to report this to the gorup, suggesting they might invite participants to contribute to the costs and that an approach be made to Roxburghe House Endowments for support. / FC
10. / Reading Material
Noted for information:
(a)  QIS Report on Spirituality in NHS Scotland
(b)  Oct 2005 issue of Nursing Management: Spiritual Care
Copies available to committee members on request.
11. / Format of Meetings
Mrs Gray proposed, and the committee agreed that, at future meetings, input from different faith groups would be useful. A short raising-awareness presentation followed by a question and answer opportunity would be welcome.
12. / Any Other Business
(a)  Chaplains Study Day – Mr Coutts reported that around 70 delegates had attended the event the previous week. The event had proved useful and was generally well received by participants.
(b)  It was agreed that, to avoid any potential conflict of interest arising from her membership of the Scottish Health Council, Mrs Kinsey would continue to be a member of the SCC, as a member of the Grampian community.
13. / Date of Next Meeting
9 February 2006.

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