I returned home yesterday from giving the keynote presentation at a conference on The Importance of Faith in Healthcare at the Heartbeat Training Centre at Southampton General Hospital. The conference, organized by the chaplaincy team, attracted about 80 delegates. Some were serving chaplains, others were staff from various departments in the hospital. I had been invited to speak as the former Chair of the Multi Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy.

My main message was that we all have spiritual needs, whether we are formally religious or not. Physical, mental and spiritual health all intersect and we are whole when we are healthy in all three spheres:

This being so, it is surely as important to pay attention to a person’s spiritual qualities and needs when they are in hospital as to their physical needs. It is the role of chaplains or spiritual care givers to offer health service patients and staff such support as they need in meeting their spiritual needs.

How to do this? Rumi points the way:

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.
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