UKBHC and other Organisations

News and publications from the UKBHC and other bodies, including palliative care partnerships, and chaplaincy, professional, or religious organisations.

The AHPCC doesn’t exist in isolation; we are part of the UKBHC and the Chaplaincy Forum, and we also represent hospice and palliative care chaplains in several groups, both in the UK and in Europe. This page seeks to keep you informed of current developments in the wider world of healthcare chaplaincy as well as giving ready access to some back copies.

You can find UKBHC resources and newsletters on their website.

Latest News

Chaplaincy Forum
The Chaplaincy Forum for Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care in Health met on the 21st January. The following points are shared as a summary of the meeting.
  • The Forum was pleased to welcome Simon Betteridge as its next Independent Chair following a selection process held last year. The Forum thanked Mark Newitt for his service as Chair over the past 6 years and also thanked Simon Harrison for his contribution to the Forum over many years.
  • NHS England shared information on the NHS 10 Year plan engagement  that is ongoing and encouraged participation from the Healthcare Chaplaincy profession. The Forum noted the importance of chaplaincy engaging with consultations to try and get chaplaincy included in the 10 year plan that will be produced.
  • Previously the Forum has identified a number of priorities relating to workforce issues. It was agreed to explore how issues of data (size of the profession) and updating job profiles could be addressed and if specific funding could be accessed to support these.
  • The Forum noted that, in the run up to the meeting, members of the Forum had contributed to a Submission of Evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee who are scrutinizing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill submitting on behalf of a number of healthcare chaplaincy related bodies. The submission recognised that chaplains would have different view, but highlighted a need for:
    • the definition of “health professional” within the Bill to be widened,
    • funding so that the Bill does not add to the existing pressures on health and social care staff
    • for the Bill to recognise the importance of holistic multidisciplinary team working and provide for safe, high-quality, professionally delivered, pastoral, spiritual and religious care to be available for the dying, their friends and family, and health and social care staff.
  • The UKBHC reported that they had worked through the backlog of applications caused by issues with the website. The website is currently being updated to enable a smoother and more streamlined registration process going forward.
Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC)

Scotland’s healthcare is similar to the rest of the UK, but structured entirely separately. Scotland has its own NHS, and its own Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPCC), in which the AHPCC is well represented. While the SPPC is concerned with all aspects of palliative care, spiritual care features quite often.

European Research Institute for Chaplaincy in Healthcare (ERICH)

The AHPCC works with ERICH, supporting research into spiritual care. This involvement also gives us some helpful insight into the very different models of healthcare chaplaincy that exist throughout Europe. ERICH hosts a Conference every two years, and publishes occasional Newsletters.

Faith in Older People (FiOP)

Faith in Older People is an Edinburgh-based charity that promotes spiritual care for older people. Much of its concern is for dementia and mental health; it also works actively to build links between healthcare services and faith communities, and runs regular training events.

As of March 2021, The Chaplaincy Forum Terms of Reference are now available

2020 Publications

SPPC 1 June 2020 – Covid-19 Update.
SPPC 1 May 2020 – Covid19 Bulletin
FiOP April 2020 Newsletter
SPPC 5 April 2020 – Covid19 Bulletin
ERICH April 2020 Report
SPPC 23 March 2020 – Covid19 Bulletin
SPPC February 2020 Bulletin
FiOP February 2020 Newsletter
SPPC January 2020 Bulletin

Publications for the previous five years

UKBHC November 2020 Newsletter
UKBHC Summer 2019 Newsletter
UKBHC January 2019 Newsletter
UKBHC Summer 2018 Newsletter
UKBHC August 2017 Newsletter
UKBHC January 2017 Newsletter
CLF (Chaplaincy Leadership Forum) ‘Future of Chaplaincy’ minutes 2013-2016 – Developments between chaplaincy organisations and NHS England
UKBHC April 2016 Newsletter
eHospice (USA), (2016) Evidence-based quality indicators for spiritual care
UKBHC December 2015 Newsletter