Lead Chaplain

Royal Marsden; Greater London; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 60,000; Part time

Job summary

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced chaplaincy leader to oversee spiritual care across Chelsea and Sutton on a 0.8 WTE basis. You will guide a diverse team, coordinate volunteers, and ensure compassionate, inclusive care for patients, families and staff within a world‑leading cancer environment.

Applicants should have substantial chaplaincy experience, strong leadership skills, and a clear commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration and safeguarding.

Qualifications

• Masters degree in Theology or equivalent level of knowledge gained through theological formation.
• Pastoral Care/Counselling qualification or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead and shape a chaplaincy service across the Trust, developing innovative approaches.
• Coordinate a diverse team of chaplains and volunteers from varied faiths and beliefs.
• Provide spiritual and pastoral care to patients, families and staff in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams.
• Promote inclusive, compassionate and person-centred care across Chelsea and Sutton sites.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Multifaith care

Team management

Education

Masters degree in Theology

Pastoral care qualification

Job description

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced and compassionate individual to lead our Chaplaincy Team across our Chelsea and Sutton sites on a part-time basis (0.8 WTE).

As a leading specialist cancer centres, The Royal Marsden delivers holistic, person-centred care that recognises and responds to the emotional, spiritual, pastoral, religious and non-religious needs of patients, families, visitors and staff. We are looking for a leader who embodies the Trust's values of Kindness, Pursuing Excellence, Pioneering and Working Together, ensuring that spiritual and pastoral care remains an integral part of the care we provide.

The successful candidate will lead the delivery and continued development of a high-quality, inclusive chaplaincy and spiritual care service across the Trust. They will support and coordinate a diverse team of chaplains and volunteers from a range of faith, belief and non-religious backgrounds, ensuring that every patient, family member and colleague has access to compassionate support that respects their individual values, culture, beliefs and preferences.

Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, the postholder will contribute to the holistic care of patients throughout their cancer journey, including diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, palliative care and end-of-life care. The role will also provide visible leadership in promoting compassionate, inclusive and personalised care for all.

Main duties of the job

This is an opportunity to lead and shape a service that is innovative and forward-looking, helping to pioneer new approaches to spiritual and pastoral care within a specialist cancer setting. The postholder will promote continuous improvement, pursue excellence in service delivery, and work collaboratively with colleagues and external partners to enhance the experience of patients, families, volunteers and staff.

We welcome applications from individuals with significant experience of chaplaincy, spiritual care or equivalent pastoral support within a healthcare setting. Applicants should be able to demonstrate experience of leadership, service development and team management, together with excellent communication and relationship-building skills.

Previous healthcare experience is essential, alongside a strong understanding of multidisciplinary working, safeguarding, confidentiality, equality, diversity and inclusion, and the complex needs of patients, families and staff within a specialist cancer environment.

If you are motivated by providing care with kindness, working collaboratively with others, pursuing excellence in all that you do, and helping to pioneer the future of spiritual and pastoral care in cancer services, we would welcome your application.

This post is subject to enhanced DBS clearance and, where applicable, endorsement by the candidate's faith or belief community.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work-life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification:

• To visit and offer religious, spiritual and pastoral care to patients, their families and friends and staff in the wards and departments ensuring that all wards and departments of the Trust are visited by members of the Chaplaincy Team on a regular basis.
• To ensure that suitable religious rites and ceremonies are made available to all who require them without discrimination and in consultation with other staff where appropriate and as requested.
• When appropriate, to minister to the seriously ill or dying.
• To provide for the spiritual and religious needs of our patients and their families and friends who are unable to be in contact with their regular church or faith community.
• To liaise with leaders of churches, mosques and other faith communities with respect to the pastoral care of their members who may also be our patients, always bearing in mind the rules of confidentiality by which every NHS employee is bound. To arrange, whenever possible, visits to patients by representatives of their own faith communities and traditions where necessary and when requested.
• Alongside medical, nursing and other healthcare professionals, to take an active part in the multi-disciplinary care of the patients of the hospital. To attend multi-disciplinary team meetings with Palliative Care and the Children’s Unit.
• To lead in developing the Chaplaincy service across the Trust and to ensure that the departmental strategy complies with nationally agreed guidelines for Healthcare Chaplaincy.
• To be responsible for the development and delivery of the strategy for the on-going provision and improvement of the Chaplaincy service.
• To attend mandatory training (as required by the Trust) and as highlighted by performance appraisal.
• To be committed to your own professional development and spiritual growth, which will include regular professional supervision and Spiritual Direction.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• Masters degree in Theology or equivalent level of knowledge gained through theological formation
• On-going academic study relating to pastoral care.
• Pastoral Care/Counselling qualification/training – or equivalent experience

Experience

• Experience of pastoral ministry.
• Experience of working with those in distress.
• Experience of NHS / Understanding of how it works
• Experience of working within a multi-faith team.
• Experience of chaplaincy within the NHS
• Experience of managing teams

Skills, Abilities and Knowledge

• Good knowledge of Theology
• Comprehensive knowledge of faith and belief systems to be able to work in a multi-cultural / multi-faith context
• To have an in-depth knowledge of your own religion/faith/belief system
• To have knowledge and experience of other faith/belief traditions and religions. Ability to offer spiritual care beyond own denominational and faith boundaries with a commitment to an ecumenical / multifaith approach to chaplaincy
• To have knowledge of the emotional, spiritual, cultural, social and religious needs of those who are unwell
• To be a highly skilled communicator including an ability to teach, share ideas and work as part of a team.
• To be able to maintain and establish relationships in a pastorally challenging environment.
• To be able to work in highly complex and sensitive situations and to provide such religious and spiritual care as the chaplain deems appropriate.
• Proven ability to remain calm under pressure.
• Good organisational skills with proven ability to manage own workload and to set priorities.
• Computer skills: Word, Outlook, Web-search on Internet, basic Excel
• Knowledge of equality and diversity issues.

Other

• Enhanced DBS clearance
• Evidence that you are in good standing with your faith community
• Able to be flexible to meet the needs of the role.

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.