Healthcare Chaplains
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