CHARITABLE CHAPLAINCY CAMPAIGN Send letters to: Your local NHS Trust – patient.experience and complaints; MPs, Assembly Members, local papers etc.May I ask you to take just a few moments to consider this question:

What does the Hospital Chaplaincy Service have that the following do not?

The Wales Air Ambulance Service
The Macmillan Cancer Care nursing service
The Cardiff Childrens Hospital

The answer is 100% funding from the Wales NHS budget.

How can this be justified in these times of cutbacks to services?

In excess of £1.3 million has been spent on chaplaincy services in Wales in each of the last FOUR financial years; over £40m a year across the whole NHS.

NO CUTS HERE THEN!!!

The provision of a hospital chaplaincy service is not a statutory obligation for the NHS (although, bizarrely, it is a statutory obligation for the prison service and the armed forces). It is probably best described as a traditional provision by the NHS. But what is an organisation based on science doing wasting money on services that peddle superstition and delusion?

£1.3 million each and every year into the future may be seen as a small contribution but only by obtaining many such small contributions may these increasing demands be met.

£814.3 million: is the latest official figure for ‘real terms’ cuts to the NHS budget by the Welsh government, over 5 years. (That means the money you have cut from health spending over 5 years).

This figure was provided by the Members Research Service at the National Assembly and is based on official Welsh Government spending projections.

£500 million: is the figure for ‘real terms’ cuts to the NHS budget by the Welsh government, over 3 years. It was, until recently, the most up to date figure for YOUR cuts to the NHS in Wales. (That means the money you have cut from health spending over 3 years).

This figure was also provided by the Members Research Service at the National Assembly.

It really is that simple; over 3 years or over 5. Either way, thats at least half a billion pounds in cuts to the Welsh NHS and a record to be ashamed of.

The creation of a Hospital Chaplaincy Fund to cover the cost of religious care by hospital chaplains would relieve this drain on NHS resources.The proposed charity would need to raise about £1.5 million per year to maintain the present service. This is ought to be entirely achievable for a supposedly valued service. While the present fiscal arrangements are in place, a portion of this amount would be met by gift aid tax which is returned by the Treasury. The Welsh Air Ambulance charity raises £5 million per year.

In Wales the largest single faith community is the Anglican Church in Wales. Alan Rogers , of the Charitable Chaplaincy Campaign, has written to the Bishops and Archbishop of the Church in Wales suggesting that they might be the natural leaders in this enterprise. The reaction has been, the NHS has taken responsibility for religious care, so the Church need not act. Regrettably there appears to be a lack of leadership from the Church in this matter.

As a consequence, a strong lead from elsewhere is required. The CCC suggest that this should perhaps amount to a declaration of a time period for the transition to charitable funding. Anyone want to second this motion?

If you feel that it cannot be justified join the Charitable Chaplaincy Campaign.
Details can be obtained from Alan Rogers – just email him at rogers.a

Dear Andy ,

We now have the data from FOI Act requests giving expenditure in financial year 2013/2014 by the NHS Wales on religious care in hospitals.

COST /Avg WTE
Betsi Cadwaladr NHS Trust £ 263,882 4.79 / £ 55,090

Velindre NHS Trust £ 29,887 1.00 / £ 29,887
Cwm Taf NHS Trust £ 138,731 3.20 / £ 43,353
Abertawe bro Morgannwg £ 185,241 3.92 / £ 47,255
Hywel Dda NHS Trust £ 172,958 4.86 / £ 35,588
Aneurin Bevan NHS Trust £ 245,108 5.78 / £ 42,406
Cardiff & Vale NHS Trust £ 251,806 6.73 / £ 37,415
Powys Local Health Trust £ 25,460 0.84 / £ 30,309
TOTAL £1,313,073 31.12

This expenditure provided over 31 Whole Time Equivalent posts at an average cost of £42,193 per WTE per year.
There is a wide range of cost per chaplain WTE with the Betsi Cadwaladr UHB figure being significantly higher than other Health Boards. If you live in the Betsi Cadwaladr UHB area you may wish to ask the Acting Chief Executive Geoff Lang why this is so.

The Chief Executive Mary Burrows has been absent since January 2014 following a Joint Review undertaken by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and the Wales Audit Office. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/page/67701

Mr. Geoff Lang does not publish his email address on-line. A message for him may be sent to:- ConcernsTeam.bcu

Regards,

Alan Rogers 1st June 2014