What Training Should Be Required as an Education Standard for Healthcare and Hospital Chaplains?

Abstract

This document discusses training for hospital and healthcare chaplains in the light of different UK standards applied by various interested parties. It considers the different standards and concludes that there is no single applied standard for training for National Health Service (NHS) hospital chaplains across the UK. Those models that do exist take differing approaches, with some basing their systems on normatively defined views of what a chaplain needs to be effective on functional (NHS managerial) or interpersonal (clinical pastoral) levels, while others take a more hybrid approach blending these approaches with doctrinal concerns. Equally, there is wide variation across different denominations and employers. This document seeks to identify where there is common ground on domains of competence for chaplaincy training and suggest some progress for training which fits into NHS structures and systems.