Spiritual care and religious practices

Good spiritual care responds to the hopes, concerns and faith of an individual without judgement or imposing any beliefs. Often by effectively meeting spiritual needs a person feels more hopeful, reassured and peaceful. This positive effect also can benefit family and other carers too.

An important part of spiritual care for many includes meeting their religious needs. Responding to religious needs of people will include recognising issues that may be important especially towards the end of life.

Understanding a patient’s spiritual needs is about having compassionate communication and giving those under our care the time to express what is important to them. This will be unique to each patient and may include both religious needs and other requests for personalised supportive care. There are some notes on communication skills and asking the right questions at the end of this chapter.

For specific information about the different religious approaches to end of life care and death: HDFT Spiritual, Religious and Pastoral care policy on the intranet.

Alternatively, the Chaplaincy Team are available 24 hours a day and can be contacted on (55)3045 or via switchboard.