Team Chaplain

South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust; Warwick; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust invites applications for a Team Chaplain to deliver holistic spiritual, pastoral and religious care across our three hospitals. The role includes on-call duties, supervision of chaplaincy volunteers, and collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams to support patients, relatives and staff.

The successful candidate will hold a recognised healthcare chaplaincy credential, demonstrate CPD commitment, and engage in education and quality improvement

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a relevant field such as counselling, pastoral care, theology or religious studies.
• Endorsement to practice as a healthcare chaplain by a sponsoring faith community or belief group.
• Evidence of annual CPD relevant to healthcare chaplaincy to UKBHC standards.
• Post-graduate qualification or equivalent life/work experience with outcomes in healthcare chaplaincy.
• Registration or ability to be registered with the UKBHC.
• Commitment to pastoral supervision training (APSE) or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to spiritual care in a multi-faith setting, addressing diverse patient, staff and relative needs.
• Supervise trainee chaplains and chaplaincy volunteers; provide training and supervision.
• Be an active presence within the Trust, visiting wards and departments to meet needs with compassionate care.
• Attend meetings related to work and participate in major incident plans within the Chaplaincy service.
• Plan and deliver appropriate religious services and ceremonies in consultation with ward staff and faith communities.

Skills

Pastoral care

Multi-faith

On-call duties

Team collaboration

Training supervision

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in relevant field

Job description

Go back South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust

Team Chaplain

The closing date is 12 October 2026

We are looking for an experienced chaplain of any faith tradition to join our team and to work with us in providing spiritual, pastoral and religious care to patients, relatives and staff. This post will be based in our acute team and will work across our three hospitals (Warwick, Stratford and Leamington Rehabilitation Hospital).

You will join a well-established, creative and committed team in a Trust which is very supportive of the chaplaincy service. The wider team includes over 40 very well trained, active chaplaincy volunteers and part of the role will be to provide training and supervision for them. There is some change ahead, with a new Lead Chaplain to be appointed within the next six months.

You will be expected to participate in our emergency out of hours on call provision, which also includes call-outs to the Myton Hospices at Coventry and Warwick. We anticipate this to require being on call one night a week and one weekend a month.

For an informal conversation or more information, please contact Rev Ricarda Witcombe, Lead Chaplain: [e-mail]

Main duties of the job

The Team Chaplain is to work with the whole Chaplaincy team in the delivery of holistic, pastoral, spiritual and religious care to all patients, their relatives and staff.

About us

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further. In addition our staff survey results have placed us 4th in the country for recommended place to work.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity. Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, inclusive, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

As part of our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion we encourage all applicants to complete a short survey. This can be accessed via the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/ahWY3eAGM2

We appreciate you completing the survey.

Job responsibilities

Knowledge, Training and Expertise

Contribute to the development of spiritual healthcare in a multi-faith setting, being sensitive to and aware of the varying pastoral, spiritual and religious needs of diverse ethnic groups, and to assist staff on responding to their needs.

Assist and advise external partners, e.g. representatives of faith communities, in the pastoral care of their people while in hospital, and to receive information from them, always observing the rules of confidentiality by which every NHS employee is bound.

Adhere to the Code of Professional Conduct (2024) of the Council for Professional Chaplains and Pastoral Carers (formerly UKBHC

Communication Skills and Working Relationships

Be an informed, visible, and active presence in the Trust, visiting wards or departments frequently; ensuring that the pastoral, spiritual and religious needs of patients, staff and relatives are met.

Communicate clearly and empathetically with patients, relatives and staff at all times.

Use advanced communication skills and inter-personal skills to give and receive complex information often in sensitive or intense situations, e.g. following receipt of bad news or where there may be barriers to understanding or acceptance.

Work with the early pregnancy, maternity and neonatal teams to offer support to parents and families experiencing baby loss at any stage of gestation, or the care of extremely ill babies.

Actively offer a ministry of encouragement to staff and offer time and space for supportive listening and counsel when sought.

Help patients, relatives and staff articulate their pastoral, spiritual or religious needs and identify resources to address them.

Ensure that the prayer rooms, Chapel and Oasis are properly maintained and accessible to all.

Analytical and Judgement Skills

Contribute to education programs within the Trust to enhance understanding of spiritual, cultural, and religious needs of patients and staff.

Provide support to members of multi-disciplinary teams engaged in pastoral and spiritual assessment or referral, to help this become a standard part of patient care.

Planning and Organisational Skills

Plan and organise own workload.

Ensure that suitable religious services, rites, and ceremonies are made available to all who require them, without discrimination and in consultation with ward staff and the patients religious community as appropriate.

Plan, organise and conduct adult contract funerals, baby funerals (at any stage of gestation) thanksgiving, memorial, and other services as required.

Freedom to Act

Initiate and take responsibility for own work pattern within the parameters of national standards and Trust polices.

Attend appropriate meetings related to work, both inside and outside the Trust.

Be a part of the Chaplaincy response within the Trusts major incident plans and response.

Management Responsibility

Supervise trainee chaplains and chaplaincy volunteers as required.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent work or life experience) with demonstrable learning in a relevant field such as counselling, pastoral care, psychology, psychotherapy, religious studies or theology.
• Endorsement to practice as a healthcare chaplain by a recognised/established sponsoring faith community or belief group.
• Evidence of annual continued professional development relevant to healthcare chaplaincy to UKBHC standards
• Post-graduate qualification (or equivalent life or work experience or working towards) with demonstrable outcomes of learning relevant to healthcare chaplaincy
• Registration, or ability to be registered with the UKBHC
• Qualification (or working towards) in pastoral supervision (such as those recommended by APSE), coaching, management or leadership

Experience

• At least 2 years full time experience, or equivalent, of working as a designated healthcare chaplain

Skills

• Demonstrable knowledge of tenets of own faith/belief tradition
• Knowledge of and engagement with faith/belief traditions beyond own
• Evidence of proactive practice of CPD
• Knowledge of current research in healthcare chaplaincy
• Evidence of offering spiritual care beyond own faith/belief boundaries with evidence of commitment to an inclusive approach to chaplaincy
• Evidence of reflecting critically on the practice and experience of providing pastoral care, and on finding/searching for meaning through exploration of spiritual issues encountered in sickness, mental health, dying, death and bereavement
• Evidence of the ability to manage time prioritizing workload including a commitment to continuity of service provision
• Engagement with safeguarding, information governance, audit, service evaluation or research
• Training in research, audit and service evaluation
• Ability to deliver training at a variety of levels
• Ability to adapt ritual (which can come from a variety of sources) in an appropriate style to context in clinical environments
• Cultural competence and religious literacy in diverse religious, spiritual and pastoral traditions
• Ability to lead reflective practice
• Act as an informed theological/philosophical and ethical resource in complex pastoral and clinical situations
• Evidence of self-care to enhance resilience or manage stress - e.g. meditation, prayer, exercise, journalling, reflective supervision

Personal Qualities

• Evidence of working collaboratively, contributing to team and sustaining positive working relationships with colleagues
• Evidence of establishing and sustaining relationships in pastorally complex and challenging environments, demonstrating empathy and compassion while taking personal responsibility and initiative
• Evidence of fluent and effective communication in speech and writing
• Evidence of practising professionally within recognised boundaries in [pastorally diverse settings (as set out in the Code of Conduct)
• Ability to create and lead ritual or other spiritual process in a way that is sensitive to the pastoral context and faith/belief traditions of those present
• Possession of a professional chaplaincy identity rooted in ones one religious/spiritual/pastoral heritage that integrates professional values and behaviours, skills and specialist knowledge
• Emotional availability, cultural humility, and a positive use of power and authority, within clear and responsible boundaries
• A high degree of personal stability and resilience to cope with significant stress on a sustained basis
• Ability to apply theoretical knowledge or ethical issues relating to health care
• Commitment to work within UKBHC Code of Conduct

Other

• Access to own transport
• Ability to attend an urgent on-call referral, out of hours, within 60 minutes

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust