Hospital Chaplaincy service open to everyone
New Head of Chaplaincy at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is championing a more inclusive approach to spiritual care, ensuring support is available to everyone – regardless of faith, belief or background.
For many people, time spent in hospital can raise questions, concerns and emotions that go beyond medical care. East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust's Chaplaincy Team is working to ensure anyone who needs support has somewhere to turn.
Leading that work is Revd Dr Frin Lewis-Smith, who has recently joined the Trust as Head of Chaplaincy. Alongside a team of eight Chaplains and award-winning Therapy Dog Alfie, she is helping to make spiritual and wellbeing support more accessible for patients, visitors and staff across East Lancashire.
Frin said: “There can be a misunderstanding that chaplaincy is only for people who have a religious faith, but that simply isn't true.
“Everybody has beliefs, values and ways of making sense of what is happening in their lives. Our role is to support people wherever they are on that journey, whether they identify with a religion, a philosophy, a cultural tradition or no faith at all.”
The Trust's Spiritual Care Centres at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General Teaching Hospital provide welcoming spaces for prayer, reflection and quiet time, with dedicated facilities for people of different faiths as well as non-religious visitors.
The Chaplaincy Team also offers bedside support, visits to relatives, listening services and opportunities for people to talk through concerns during challenging times.
Frin has spent more than two decades exploring the spiritual needs of people who do not identify with a religion and believes healthcare organisations have an important role in recognising those needs.
She said: “As society changes, we are seeing increasing numbers of people who do not identify with a religious belief but who still have spiritual needs, particularly when facing illness, loss or uncertainty.
“My ambition is to ensure everyone knows this service is here for them and that nobody feels excluded from accessing support because they think chaplaincy is not relevant to them.”
The service also includes Therapy Dog Alfie, whose visits to wards and departments have become a popular source of comfort for patients, families and colleagues alike.
“Alfie helps create connections and conversations in a way that's often unique,” said Frin. “Sometimes people find it easier to open up when an animal is present and we've seen the positive difference that can make.”
Frin returns to East Lancashire after previously beginning her ministry in Darwen before taking on senior roles in Salford and Leeds.
She added: “I'm delighted to be back in the area where my ministry began and to bring experience from across the NHS to support the excellent work already taking place here. Our goal is simple – to ensure that anyone who needs support can access it, whatever their faith, belief or life experience.”
The Spiritual Care Centres at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital and Burnley General Teaching Hospital are open 24 hours a day. Anyone wishing to arrange a visit from a Chaplain or Alfie for themselves or a loved one can email [email protected]