Hospital chaplaincy units show bias towards Christianity
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
EDITOR—The Human Rights Act 1998 and the Patient's Charter place a legal responsibility on public bodies to ensure the rights of individuals to religious observance.1 2 Concern has, however, been expressed that access to spiritual care in hospitals for those of non-Christian faiths is limited.3 We therefore conducted a national survey of hospital chaplaincy units.
We randomly selected 100 NHS hospitals in England and Wales. Chaplaincy units were asked to complete a questionnaire, administered over the telephone, that inquired about worship space, chaplaincy staffing, and quality of care delivered to faith communities.4
We established contact with 72 units, and all agreed to participate. Multifaith prayer rooms were reported to be present in 10 hospitals. Fifty four hospitals had a dedicated place of worship for Christians compared with four hospitals with a dedicated space for Buddhists, six for Hindus, four for Jews, 13 for Muslims, and five for Sikhs (P < 0.001 for all groups when compared with Christians). Fourteen hospitals had facilities for segregation of the sexes in prayer areas.
The hospitals in our sample employed 105 full time chaplains, of whom 98 were Christian (P < 0.001 for all faith groups compared with Christians). Sixteen units had written policies on ensuring that hospital chaplains received training in cultural diversity.
Overall quality of chaplaincy care available to patients and staff was considered by respondents to be significantly better for Christians than for all other faith groups (P < 0.001).
Our findings show considerable disadvantage to non-Christians in relation to access to space for worship, chaplaincy staff, and quality of chaplaincy care. Some progress seems, however, evidenced by the recent guidance from the Department of Health on developing chaplaincy services that meet the needs of all faith communities.5
Aziz Sheikh, professor of primary care research and development
Division of Community Health Sciences: General Practice Section, University of Edinburgh EH8 9DX aziz.sheikh@ed.ac.uk
Abdul Rashid Gatrad, consultant paediatrician
Department of Paediatrics, Manor Hospital, Walsall WS2 9PS
Usman Sheikh, research assistant
Research and Documentation Committee, Muslim Council of Britain, London E15 1NT
Sukhmeet Singh Panesar, medical student
Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ
Shuja Shafi, consultant in public health
North West London Hospitals Trust, Harrow HA1 3UJ
Competing interests: AS, ARG, US, and SS are Muslims and have (voluntary) positions with the Muslim Council of Britain. SSP is a Sikh.
References
Human Rights Act 1998. www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980042.htm (accessed 27 Aug 2004).
Department of Health. The patient's charter. London: DoH, 1999.
Sheikh A. Quiet room is needed in hospitals for prayer and reflection. BMJ 1997;315: 1625.
National Statistics Online. UK census 2001. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/default.asp (accessed 27 Aug 2004).
Department of Health. NHS chaplaincy: meeting the religious and spiritual needs of patients and staff. London: DoH, 2003.
We randomly selected 100 NHS hospitals in England and Wales. Chaplaincy units were asked to complete a questionnaire, administered over the telephone, that inquired about worship space, chaplaincy staffing, and quality of care delivered to faith communities.4
We established contact with 72 units, and all agreed to participate. Multifaith prayer rooms were reported to be present in 10 hospitals. Fifty four hospitals had a dedicated place of worship for Christians compared with four hospitals with a dedicated space for Buddhists, six for Hindus, four for Jews, 13 for Muslims, and five for Sikhs (P < 0.001 for all groups when compared with Christians). Fourteen hospitals had facilities for segregation of the sexes in prayer areas.
The hospitals in our sample employed 105 full time chaplains, of whom 98 were Christian (P < 0.001 for all faith groups compared with Christians). Sixteen units had written policies on ensuring that hospital chaplains received training in cultural diversity.
Overall quality of chaplaincy care available to patients and staff was considered by respondents to be significantly better for Christians than for all other faith groups (P < 0.001).
Our findings show considerable disadvantage to non-Christians in relation to access to space for worship, chaplaincy staff, and quality of chaplaincy care. Some progress seems, however, evidenced by the recent guidance from the Department of Health on developing chaplaincy services that meet the needs of all faith communities.5
Aziz Sheikh, professor of primary care research and development
Division of Community Health Sciences: General Practice Section, University of Edinburgh EH8 9DX aziz.sheikh@ed.ac.uk
Abdul Rashid Gatrad, consultant paediatrician
Department of Paediatrics, Manor Hospital, Walsall WS2 9PS
Usman Sheikh, research assistant
Research and Documentation Committee, Muslim Council of Britain, London E15 1NT
Sukhmeet Singh Panesar, medical student
Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ
Shuja Shafi, consultant in public health
North West London Hospitals Trust, Harrow HA1 3UJ
Competing interests: AS, ARG, US, and SS are Muslims and have (voluntary) positions with the Muslim Council of Britain. SSP is a Sikh.
References
Human Rights Act 1998. www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980042.htm (accessed 27 Aug 2004).
Department of Health. The patient's charter. London: DoH, 1999.
Sheikh A. Quiet room is needed in hospitals for prayer and reflection. BMJ 1997;315: 1625.
National Statistics Online. UK census 2001. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/default.asp (accessed 27 Aug 2004).
Department of Health. NHS chaplaincy: meeting the religious and spiritual needs of patients and staff. London: DoH, 2003.