Head of Chaplaincy | East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust; Colchester; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in Colchester is looking for a Head of Chaplaincy to lead a diverse chaplaincy team. Responsibilities include developing chaplaincy strategies, managing budgets, and providing spiritual care across multiple sites. Ideal candidates should hold a Master’s Degree related to chaplaincy and have significant healthcare experience. The role offers a supportive environment with training opportunities and a generous benefits package.

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

27 days annual leave

NHS discounts

Qualifications

• Experience in a healthcare chaplaincy role at a managerial level.
• Ability to provide face-to-face pastoral care.
• Capable of leading a large team across multiple sites.

Responsibilities

• Develop and review the chaplaincy service strategy.
• Manage the chaplaincy budget effectively.
• Collaborate with wider patient services for operational improvements.
• Produce reports and business plans as required.
• Identify resources for human resource development.

Skills

Healthcare chaplaincy experience

Management skills

Strategic leadership

Multi-faith approach knowledge

Education

Master’s Degree in Chaplaincy Studies or Pastoral Theology

Job description

Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a suitably qualified, experienced, visionary and talented healthcare chaplain to join East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust as Head of Chaplaincy. ESNEFT’s Head of Chaplaincy provides strategic leadership to the Trust, leading on pastoral, spiritual and religious care within the organisation, and leading and managing the chaplaincy team. The Head of Chaplaincy role offers an exciting opportunity to lead a large chaplaincy team across multiple sites in a busy and culturally diverse organisation, and to further develop a multi-faith and belief approach to chaplaincy provision.

The Head of Chaplaincy role requires taking full responsibility for the role across the whole Trust whilst maintaining a level of operational chaplaincy commitment through the provision of face-to-face pastoral, spiritual and religious care to patients, relatives or staff members of any religion or belief, and by participating in the 24/7 on-call service and weekend working.

The successful candidate will be educated to Master’s Degree Level or equivalent in experience, in an appropriate subject such as chaplaincy studies or pastoral theology and have substantial healthcare chaplaincy and management experience within the NHS, and in line with current UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy guidance. They will need to be able to use your own personal transport for chaplaincy duties, with appropriate travel expenses being offered in return.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, monitor and review the strategy of the chaplaincy service in line with current NHS England chaplaincy guidance and guidance from professional and regulatory bodies e.g. UKBHC chaplaincy Code of Conduct, and the Trust’s corporate agenda in consultation with the Deputy Director of Nursing Quality.
• Manage the chaplaincy budget and charitable funds within Trust procedures and contribute to the drawing up of department/service budgets or financial initiatives. Act as an authorised signatory for small cash/ financial payment i.e. overtime, travel, ordering stock etc.
• Contribute to the strategic and operational working of the chaplaincy service through collaboration with the wider patient services meetings, ‘away-days’ and other relevant meetings and project work. Contribute towards policy implementation, providing advice on best practice and contribute to relevant decision making as part of patient services.
• Further the development of the chaplaincy service and pastoral, spiritual and religious care in the Trust/community by making clear links between (a) the Trusts corporate agenda, (b) the spiritual, religious and pastoral needs of staff and patients, and (c) the resources of chaplaincy care.
• Produce reports, business plans and business cases as and when required.
• Identify financial resources to develop the human resources side of the department to meet national guidelines within a multi-faith and belief framework.

About ESNEFT

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients’ own homes. We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

Benefits and Working Here

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients. We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what’s widely regarded as the world’s best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

Additional Information

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

This advert closes on Thursday 18 Sep 2025