Assistant Chaplain (Christian)

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust; Manchester; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in healthcare is seeking a compassionate Chaplain to provide spiritual support across its hospitals. This role is vital in delivering pastoral care to patients, families, and staff, ensuring their spiritual needs are met with sensitivity and respect. The successful candidate will work within a collaborative team, leading religious services and supporting the bereaved while upholding the Trust's values. Join a forward-thinking organization that champions diversity and inclusion, offering an enriching environment to grow your career while making a meaningful impact in the community. If you are passionate about spiritual care and want to contribute to a supportive healthcare environment, this opportunity is for you.

Qualifications

• Ordained leader with relevant qualifications and experience in pastoral care.
• Accredited training in theology or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide spiritual and religious support to patients and staff.
• Plan and lead religious services and rites within the Trust.
• Support Chaplaincy Managers in delivering effective spiritual care.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Pastoral care experience

Interpersonal skills

IT competency in MS Office

Ability to provide pastoral support

Education

Undergraduate degree in theology or pastoral care

Postgraduate training in Chaplaincy

Accreditation with appropriate authority

Tools

MS Office

Job description

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Main area: Chaplaincy
Grade: NHS AfC: Band 5
Contract: Permanent (Includes out of hours and some Sunday working)
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Includes on-call evenings and weekends, some Sunday working)
Job ref: 349-COR-6862654*

Site: MFT Hospitals
Town: Manchester
Salary: £29,970 - £36,483 per annum, pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 12/01/2025 23:59

Job overview

The post holder will work within a Trust wide Chaplaincy Service and take responsibility for the delivery and provision of highly skilled, compassionate pastoral, spiritual or religious support for patients, carers and staff across the organisation for their own specific faith.

The post holder will be authorised and accredited to practice as a world religion or belief leader and provide effective chaplaincy which demonstrates the values and behaviours identified within the Trust's framework and act as a role model for all staff within the managed Hospital sites.

The post holder will support the Group Chaplaincy Managers to provide an efficient and effective spiritual care service across the Trust, enhancing the experience of both patients and staff in the delivery of spiritual and religious care.

The post holder will work autonomously within their own religion/faith group within the Chaplaincy role and have freedom to act and decide when it is necessary to refer to the Chaplaincy Manager.

Main duties of the job

Professional duties:
The post holder will:

• Provide pastoral, religious and spiritual support to distressed patients, clients, carers, families, and the bereaved.
• Plan and support religious services to meet pastoral needs.
• Lead appropriate acts of worship within the Trust and work with volunteers to take religious rites to patients on the wards; for example, holy communion, sacraments to the sick.
• Conduct foetal baby and adult funerals as required – liaising with the Trust’s Bereavement Service.
• Conduct religious rites of passage as required.
• Support the Chaplaincy Managers deliver pastoral care across the organization and within their own area of responsibility.
• Work respectfully and sensitively alongside other healthcare professionals.
• Be an active team member of the Trust Corporate Patient Services Department and comment on policies that are being developed for the department.
• Develop links with Trust ward staff and managers.
• Provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information, for example, being aware of religious affiliations; supporting patients in distressing situations; dealing with family conflicts.
• Abide by the UKBHC code of conduct and act in accordance with Trust policies, procedures and values.
• With supervision by more senior on-call staff provide faith specific on-call.

Working for our organisation

MFT is one of the largest NHS Trusts in England with a turnover of £2.6bn and is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.

Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 28,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.

We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.

We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.

At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.

Diversity Matters

MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at [e-mail].

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Person specification

Qualifications

• Ordained or relevant Leader in good standing with own faith/non-faith community.
• Accredited training/qualification (Undergraduate degree level in theology, pastoral care or other relevant discipline - or working towards or equivalent experience).
• Accreditation/licensing with appropriate authority to practice as religion/belief/non-faith leader/representative and/or pastoral worker.
• Post graduate training in Chaplaincy or equivalent A certificate in counselling or other relevant specialist training.
• A certificate in counselling or other relevant specialist training.

Knowledge/Experience

• Broad knowledge of NHS Chaplaincy.
• Excellent theological knowledge and good knowledge of spiritual/religious needs of people of all faiths.
• Demonstrable pastoral, spiritual and religious care experience within and beyond the person’s faith and belief group.
• Experience in health care chaplaincy.

Skills

• Excellent communication, pastoral and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to listen and provide pastoral support in difficult situations/ experiences.
• IT competency in MS office, and ability to learn new IT systems rapidly.
• Ability to work effectively with others.
• Ability to assess own limitations and seek guidance and support.
• Ability in consultation with line Manager to assess and prioritize own work.
• Evidence of ability to work within a Healthcare Chaplaincy Team.
• Evident of advanced IT skills.

Other

• Ability to travel between hospital sites.
• To be able to work in any Trust hospital as required.
• To participate in ecumenical on-call rota.
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, with confidence and accuracy.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.