Healthcare Chaplains
This page describes how to refer to Healthcare Chaplains and when that might be helpful.
Healthcare Chaplains offer specialist spiritual care, which may be appropriate at many stages of the healthcare journey, for example:
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Anxiety upon admission
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Upon receiving significant news or adapting to changes
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Before or following surgery
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Expressing fear, loneliness, worry, anger, distress, or withdrawing
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Needing to talk to an attentive, skilled listener
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Facing death or coping with bereavement
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Expressing religious needs or struggles
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Requests for prayer, sacraments, ceremonies and services (e.g. funerals, weddings, baptisms, blessings, remembrance services)
The Spiritual Care Department can also act as a bridge to local faith leaders to help meet specific religious needs.
Who can make a referral?
NHS staff; patients; patients’ relatives, carers, faith communities and belief groups can all refer themselves or somebody else to the Spiritual Care service.
How to refer to a Healthcare Chaplain.
If referring somebody else, please ask them if they would like to speak to a chaplain. (A chaplain will also check that their visit is welcome at the time.)
During office hours Monday-Friday 8.30am-4.30pm:
- Phone the Spiritual Care Department on extension 53316 / (01224) 553316
- Email gram.spiritualcare@nhs.scot
For urgent matters Monday-Friday 4.30pm-8.30pm, Saturday-Sunday 8.30am-8.30pm:
- Call NHS Grampian Switchboard on 0345 456 6000 and ask to be put through to the on-call Chaplain (or the on-call Roman Catholic Chaplain at any time outside office hours).
At all times, when requesting a chaplain to be contacted, please allow 15 minutes to lapse before repeating the request for a call to be made.
Please provide the following details to the Spiritual Care Department:
- State whether you are a staff member, a patient, or your connection to a patient
- State who the referral is for – name and CHI number (if possible)
- State the nature and background of the referral
- State where the person being referred is located, e.g. ward and hospital
- Leave a contact number
If you are leaving a voicemail message, please do not leave patient details, but simply request a call back with your contact details