‘Having a different conversation around death’: diverse hospital chaplains' views on end-of-life care

Abstract

Objectives

Hospital chaplaincy in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is an allied profession that is emerging from its origins as an aspect of Anglican clerical organisation. This paper describes the perceptions and practices of hospital chaplains around end of life care and organ donation.

Design

Qualitative study involving 19 semi-structured exploratory interviews with hospital chaplains in five NHS Hospital Trusts across two regions in the UK.

Results

Chaplains provided generic support for the family around death and in relation to end of life conversations. While chaplains were supportive of efforts to increase awareness of issues around deceased donation they held a range of views on organ donation and had limited knowledge of hospital processes and practices.

Conclusions

There is scope for greater training and involvement of hospital chaplains in hospital work on organ donation, and in developing new forms of community engagement to promote awareness and debate.

Keywords:

• end of life care
• religion
• organ donation

Acknowledgements

This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (Grant Reference Number RP-PG-0707-10123). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. Thanks to all the chaplains who participated and to Maya Varyani for comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Notes

1. Which include Bahá’í, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism according to the NHS Careers page entitled ‘Chaplain’. http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/wider-healthcare-team/careers-in-the-wider-healthcare-team/corporate-services/chaplain/, accessed 22 January 2013.

2. A second chaplain who described his affiliation with the Free Church (a term that encompasses Pentecostalism) and who worked with Pentecostal patients emphasised that there are no ‘last rites’ specified in the Free Church (5.14.2).