New guidance published by National Health Service England, the country’s all-encompassing government health care, will require hospitals to consider the needs of non-religious patients by ensuring they have access to appropriate pastoral care.
The National Secular Society cautiously welcomed the new guidance, after previously criticizing an earlier draft for failing to adequately recognize the needs of patients who do not identify with a religious faith. The NSS has longstanding concerns about the inappropriate and unsustainable nature of faith-based chaplaincy in the National Health Service.
The report, Promoting Excellence in Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care, sets out to “respond to changes in the NHS, society and the widening understanding of spiritual, religious and pastoral care.”
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