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Job summary

Main area
Chaplaincy
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 7
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (Participation in 24-7 on-call rota including evenings, weekends and bank holidays)
Job ref
319-7132626JN-A
Employer
Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Trust-wide
Town
North Tyneside
Salary
£46,148 - £52,809 Per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
Today at 23:59

Employer heading

Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Lead Chaplain

NHS AfC: Band 7

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022).  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

  • Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
  • Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
  • A range of flexible working opportunities
  • Generous annual leave and pension scheme
  • Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
  • Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
  • On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
  • Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy. 

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes.  If you use AI, and it poses a risk  to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process. 

Job overview

We are looking for a compassionate leader to join our team of highly skilled chaplains. Together this team will ensure appropriate spiritual, pastoral and religious care is extended to all patients, their families and our staff across hospitals in Northumberland and North Tyneside. 

We are looking for someone who can steer the development of our multi-faith chaplaincy service, provide day-to-day leadership to a busy team of paid and volunteer chaplains and play an active role in delivering care at the bedside.      

Main duties of the job

  • Managing a trust-wide Chaplaincy Service providing spiritual, pastoral and religious care to patients, their families and staff.
  • Responsible for a team made up of paid chaplaincy staff and volunteers based at a variety of hospitals sites in Northumberland and North Tyneside.
  • Must maintain endorsement to practice as a healthcare chaplain by being authorised by an appropriate faith or belief group
  • Will be required to liaise closely with other managers, service leads and clinicians.
  • Will undertake appropriate financial management to ensure the department is managed within budget 

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality – opening a state of the art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England?  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare, this is the Northumbria Way! Please read ‘applicant guidance notes’ before submitting your application.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

·       The post holder is required to provide spiritual, pastoral and religious support to patients, relatives, carers and staff. 

·       The Chaplaincy Team Leader leads a trust-wide team of chaplains who provide a 24-7 service. The team work flexibly across a variety of trust locations and many of the team work on a part-time / voluntary basis. Highly developed communication skills are required to lead this team

·       The post holder will be required to build and maintain positive working relationships between the trust and the local community and in particular the different faith communities and belief groups. 

·       There is a regular ongoing need to communicate with distressed patients, relatives and carers, therefore the ability to empathise, listen, communicate and respond sensitively and appropriately in emotive, sometimes hostile, circumstances is required.

·         Providing support to front line staff who seek the support of the hospital chaplains sometime in distressing circumstances is also a requirement for this post.

·         Liaises with colleagues in multi-disciplinary teams regarding the palliative care of patients.

·         Is required to anticipate barriers to effective communication and take action to improve communication. Barriers may occur when for example, the patient has a hearing impairment, aphasia due to stroke, dementia, cognitive impairment or when English is not a first language.

·         Needs to be able to respond effectively to complex issues when answering questions regarding suffering or the purpose of life and death.

·         As a manager, there is a requirement to demonstrate skills in negotiation, persuasion and motivation in dealing with colleagues, health care professionals and senior managers.

·         Ability to contribute to written reports and departmental policies.

·         Effective communication skills are needed to explain and implement changes to service delivery, operational procedures and policies which can be contentious and require agreement and co-operation with individual staff and staff groups.

·         Skilled communication is required to reach agreement/consensus in implementing service changes arising from a response to local and national guidance, organisational policy, legislative and regulatory changes.

Person specification

Essential

Essential criteria
  • Educated to degree level
  • Specialist knowledge of a range of religions, faiths and cultures acquired through theoretical training/practical experience
  • Computer literate for a range of software including word, excel and power point
Desirable criteria
  • Recognised Counselling qualification
  • Full registration with the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Substantial experience in providing spiritual care / chaplaincy
  • Demonstrable knowledge of National Health Care Chaplaincy standards
  • Knowledge of bereavement issues
Desirable criteria
  • Previous line management experience
  • Previous working experience as a Healthcare Chaplain either full or part-time
  • Experience of and ability to implement major change

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Better Health at Work Award - Maintaining ExcellenceHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - Gold

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Yvonne Storey
Job title
Communications Operational Service Manager
Email address
[email protected]
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