Department of Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care

Chaplains are employed by the NHS to give pastoral, spiritual, and/or religious care.

Spiritual care relates to such concerns as purpose, meaning, identity, hope, suffering, and more. We aim to offer a safe space in which these concerns can be shared, at many levels and in many ways.

We offer support to patients, families and members of staff in all the hospitals across the Trust. We also work closely with community teams.

Our team is made up of full time, part time and honorary chaplains, as well as chaplaincy volunteers and occasional placement students. The main office is in Warwick Hospital, and we also share the Volunteer Hub office in Leamington.

Volunteers

We have a team of about 30 chaplaincy volunteers who visit patients on the wards in all our hospitals. They have all completed a bespoke training course in chaplaincy and pastoral care. They come from a variety of faith traditions. In Warwick they usually visit on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Each volunteer is assigned to a ward and after consultation with nursing staff they visit bed to bed to tell people about the chaplaincy service and to give pastoral and spiritual support. They report back to the chaplains who will then follow up any needs that have been highlighted. If you are interested in being a chaplaincy volunteer, please see click here.

What do we do?

Whether you are a patient or a relative of one, being in hospital can be a challenging time. You or your loved one may be feeling anxious or distressed. You may be dealing with a new diagnosis, or just wondering what is going to happen next. You may feel alone. You may be bereaved. Whatever is happening, it is normal to feel overwhelmed from time to time. We’re here to support you.

We seek to support people of any faith. We hold a list of local faith leaders and representatives who we can contact when needed. We also have an internal group of staff members of many faiths who act as advisors to the service and give support.

Children and Young People’s Chaplaincy

We have two children and young people’s chaplains. They work with the community palliative care team to support families of palliative children and bereaved families.

Bereavement Listening Service

We offer 1:1 sessions for bereavement support. The service is offered to patients, bereaved relatives and members of staff. We can meet face to face or talk on the phone or online. Contact us at listening@swft.nhs.uk. Click here for more information.

Big questions

Illness can raise all sorts of questions for people – why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve it? What if I don’t get better? Some of these questions may find some resolution within a person’s religious tradition but most people are not religious, and even those who are, need more than religion to meet their deepest human needs.

Chaplains offer time and space to listen to a person’s needs and to help them articulate what matters to them. We are here for people who find themselves to be patients and for their families – sometimes it is family members who needs most support. It helps to talk – we are here to listen.

Visiting

We will visit anyone and give whatever time is needed to meet their need. You don’t need to ‘be religious’ to see a chaplain. We will only talk about religion if you want to.

We are here for everyone, regardless of background or belief.

Our main base is Warwick Hospital. However, we also visit:

Leamington Hospital

We visit patients or staff in any area of Leamington Hospital, at any time. There is usually a chaplain on-site in Leamington on Wednesdays. We also have a small team of chaplaincy volunteers who visit the wards on Fridays. Our chaplaincy administrator is based in the volunteer hub. Here there is also chaplaincy information and support.

Stratford Hospital

We visit patients or staff in any area of Stratford Hospital, at any time. A small team of chaplaincy volunteers, including one of our honorary chaplains, visit regularly on the Nicol Unit and Rigby Unit. They are usually there on Thursdays.

Contact us

If you need us urgently

Call switchboard (01926 495321 outside the Trust or press 0 if using a Trust phone) and ask for the on-call chaplain: there is always a chaplain available, at any time of the day or night.

If it’s not urgent

We are usually on-site at Warwick Monday-Friday between 08:00 – 16:00 and on Sunday mornings.

  • Email: chaplaincy@swft.nhs.uk
  • Phone: 01926 495321 ext 4121
  • Or pick up a referral form outside the chaplaincy office in Warwick and post it through our door – or if the door is open, come in to talk to us.

Sacred Spaces and Services

The Chapel at Warwick Hospital, and the Oasis at Leamington Hospital are always open and you are always welcome. These are shared spaces, quietness is observed where possible. We also hold services here.

At Warwick there is also a prayer room and wudu facilities. The prayer room contains religious items for Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths. In the Leamington Oasis there is a screened space with prayer mats.

At Stratford Hospital, there is a room on the first floor of Building One with wudu facilities.

Trees of love and prayers

You will find a tree in the chapel at Warwick Hospital, the Oasis at Leamington Hospital and also at Stratford Hospital, where you can hang a leaf on the branches as a sign of your love and prayers for someone, or in memory of someone who has died.

Regular Services

We hold a simple service of Holy Communion at 09:30 each Sunday in the chapel at Warwick. This is a short service (about 20 minutes) that follows a Church of England liturgy.

Jumu’ah Prayers take place in the chapel on Fridays at about 13:15.

Staff, patients, visitors and volunteers are all welcome at these services.

Roman Catholic Chaplaincy

We currently do not have a Roman Catholic Chaplain. We have volunteers who are Eucharistic ministers who come in on most Tuesdays and Thursdays for non-urgent pastoral Roman Catholic visits. We also have an emergency call out service provided by local priests. This is not a 24/7 service; on days when we have no priest available, we advise families to call in their own priest.

End of life care

Many of the referrals we receive are for people at the end of life, or those caring for them. Sometimes people just want someone to be there with them: we can do that. We can also offer prayers and other religious rites as appropriate. We can help someone network with their local faith community. We also offer simple bereavement support.

Religious and cultural needs at the end of life

This link will give some guidelines for religious and cultural needs of patients, including guidance for end of life religious care. However, no guide is ever conclusive and every individual may have different needs. We always ask and we never assume. We are happy to be involved in conversations with staff and patients to facilitate support for religious and cultural needs.

Baptisms, weddings and funerals

We can assist with all of these!

Baptisms (also known as christenings) may be important for a baby or an adult, especially when the future is uncertain.

Emergency marriages can sometimes be arranged at a bedside if need be. Contact us to discuss this.

Emergency Marriage in Hospital Procedure can be accessed by staff via the Trust extranet.

We also conduct funerals for patients who die in the hospital with no next of kin, and for babies who die at any gestation or after birth. Occasionally we are asked to take a funeral for a patient whom we have spent time with in the hospital – we are always happy to consider this.

Baby loss

The chaplains work closely with the Trust's Bereavement Midwife, early pregnancy and maternity teams to support parents when they experience baby loss at any gestation or after birth.

We can visit people when they are on the ward or in any hospital department. We also conduct funerals for babies of any gestation; and we hold annual remembrance services for anyone who has ever lost a baby. And we offer ongoing support when that is needed. We can meet people in their own home, or anywhere else as appropriate.

Books of Remembrance

We have some beautiful books of remembrance in the chapel at Warwick:

For babies:

For members of staff who have died:

A professional calligrapher writes and illustrates the inscription.

Calendar of Religious Festivals

Click here to access the calendar of religious festivals.

Staff support

We are here for all staff as well as for patients and their families. We offer one to one support, either for times of crisis or in a more on-going way.

We are happy to support by phone, online, or face to face. We can offer support to staff who are off work, for sickness or any other reason. We also offer team support, for example de-briefing after a traumatic event, or memorial services for members of staff who have died. We can offer tea, biscuits and tissues for any reason, at any time! We can also offer retreat days for staff teams, and services or blessings for any occasion.

Because we are often on-site (as well as one of us being on call 24/7) we can usually respond to a need pretty quickly, if not immediately. We don’t operate with waiting lists or appointment systems.

Resources

We hold supplies of wooden holding crosses and hearts, prayer cards, bibles, rosaries, medallions, Buddhist statues, knitted hearts, blankets, twiddle muffs and more. Just ask us.