Foreword
It is with great pleasure that I introduce and endorse NHS Golden Jubilee’s Spiritual Care Strategy. I am passionate in my belief that both spiritual and pastoral care must be an integral part of all of our day to day roles in health and social care.
This document highlights that, as a team, we can make it clear that integrating spiritual care into everything we do is our way of life, and is key to delivering high quality person centred care.
Leadership in spiritual care is very important and as Board Chair I believe in leading, influencing and creating this culture within our organisation. It is my privilege and my duty to ensure I am a role model in this, so that spiritual care is visible through every part of our day to day activity.
For me, behaving in a spiritual and pastoral way means caring and metaphorically walking alongside all of our patients and service users, as well as those who deliver our services.
Everyone has their own personal journey in terms of what spirituality, faith and belief means to them, and together we aim to embrace and support everyone through this in whatever way is most beneficial for them. We value an inclusive approach which means that we can offer pastoral support which ensures that everyone’s core beliefs, whatever makes them feel whole, are cared for alongside all their health and other wellbeing needs. NHS Golden Jubilee has a large and complex portfolio, so there are many people we interact with as an organisation.
My wish is that all of those touchpoints are caring, supportive, loving and compassionate. I personally commit to my part and I commit to really showing that I care through being person centred, empathetic and compassionate in my approach and interactions with others.
This document enshrines what we mean by person centred spiritual care. It sets out what we aim to achieve when spiritual care is at the heart and centre of all we do. It captures how we have developed as a caring and empathetic organisation and lays out what we at NHS Golden Jubilee believe to be best practice. I believe spirituality is something we all experience on some level, and within a values based organisation like NHS Golden Jubilee, this strategy is of key importance.
I look forward to working with everyone to embed spiritual care, indeed love, respect, kindness and equality into further action and thank everyone who has worked to get us to this place.
Susan Douglas-Scott CBE, Chair, NHS Golden Jubilee
