Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
UKBHC Documentation Information
Document Title
Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
Description
The professional standards of conduct for healthcare
chaplains
Document Purpose
Guidance for healthcare chaplains, their employers,
trainers and supervisors.
Author
UKBHC
Publication Date
June 2010
Publication Place
www.ukbhc.org.uk
Cambridge (UK)
Citing this document This document should be referenced as follows:
UKBHC (2010)
Code of Conduct for Healthcare
Chaplains. Cambridge: UKBHC
Copyright
This document is copyright the UK Board of
Healthcare Chaplaincy and may only be reproduced
for personal and non-‐commercial use and without
alterations or changes to the content. For all other
purposes prior permission should be obtained from
UKBHC.
2
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
Contents
1 Introduction
5
2 Definition of Terms
6
3 General conduct of chaplains
7
4 Relationships between chaplains and those in their care
8
5 Working with col eagues
12
6 Probity in professional practice
13
7 Dealing with misconduct
14
8 References
15
3
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
About this document
The
Code of Conduct sets out the professional standards of conduct
expected of healthcare chaplains towards those in their care. It applies
to all healthcare chaplains who are registered with the UK Board of
Healthcare Chaplaincy or who are members of one of the professional
associations of healthcare chaplaincy.
4
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the Code
The Code is a statement of the ethical values and principles that underpin
good chaplaincy practice and provides guidance about what is expected of
healthcare chaplains. The Code therefore sets out the basis for safe, effective
and compassionate care by chaplains which safeguard and promotes the
spiritual health and well being of those in their care.
1.2 Applicability of the Code
The Code applies to all healthcare chaplains who are registered with UKBHC or
members of one of the professional associations. The Code may also be
adopted as a best practice guide for chaplains, volunteers, students, visiting
ministers of religion and representatives of belief groups who are not
members of a professional association or registered with UKBHC. It is
recommended that health providers refer to the Code in chaplaincy job
descriptions and contracts of employment.
1.3 Scope of the Code
The Code sets out the professional standards of conduct expected of
healthcare chaplains towards those in their care: patients, service users,
carers, staff, students, volunteers and others to whom chaplains relate as part
of their duties and responsibilities. Professional standards of competence and
service delivery are set out separately in two UKBHC documents:
Spiritual and
Religious Care Capabilities and Competences for Healthcare Chaplains1, and
Standards for Healthcare Chaplaincy Services2.
1.4 Acknowledgements
The Code has been prepared by the UKBHC with the support of the
professional associations of healthcare chaplains: The Association of Hospice
and Palliative Care Chaplains (AHPCC), The Col ege of Health Care Chaplains
(CHCC), The Northern Ireland Healthcare Chaplains’ Association (NIHCA), and
the Scottish Association of Chaplains in Healthcare (SACH). It is based upon
the 2nd edition of the Code of Conduct published by AHPCC, CHCC and SACH in
2005.
5
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
2 Definition of Terms
Belief group: Any group which has a cohesive system of values or beliefs but
which does not self-‐classify as a faith community.
Chaplain: A person who is appointed and recognised as part of the specialist
spiritual care team within a health care setting. His or her job is to seek out
and respond to those who are expressing spiritual and religious need by
providing the appropriate care, or facilitating that care, through contacting,
with the patient’s permission, the representative of choice.
Faith community: A recognisable group who share a belief system, and usually
undertake religious practices such as prayer, scripture reading, meditation,
and communal acts of worship.
Probity: refers to the honesty, integrity and trustworthiness of chaplains in
their professional duties and conduct.
Spiritual and religious care: Religious care is given in the context of shared
religious beliefs, values, liturgies and lifestyle of a faith community. Spiritual
care is usually given in a one to one relationship, is completely person centred
and makes no assumptions about personal conviction of life orientation.
Spiritual Care is not necessarily religious. Religious care, at its best is always
spiritual3.
6
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
3 General conduct of chaplains
As a healthcare chaplain you are professionally accountable for your decisions
and conduct and you must be able to justify your practice. In particular you
must:
• promote and safeguard the interests and wel being of those in your care;
• treat those in your care with equal respect and dignity;
• respect the rights of individuals, belief groups and faith communities to
hold their own values, traditions, beliefs and practices;
• act with integrity, sensitivity and understanding;
• develop and maintain your knowledge, skills and capabilities to practise
safely, ethically, competently and legally;
• ensure that you are fit to practice and that those in your care are not at
risk of harm because of your conduct, performance or health;
• comply with your terms of employment, and the policies and protocols of
your employing health body;
• maintain a recognised or accredited status with your faith community or
belief group;
• uphold the reputation of healthcare chaplaincy.
7
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
4 Relationships between chaplains and those in their
care
Spiritual and religious care involves establishing relations and engaging in
practices in situations where people are vulnerable and there is an imbalance
of power. Pastoral relations can therefore go wrong and they have the
potential to be damaging or harmful. You must therefore exercise your role
with sensitivity, discernment and within ethical boundaries. Special care
should be taken when relating to children, those with mental health or
learning difficulties and other vulnerable adults.
The only appropriate relationship between you and those in your care is a
professional relationship committed to promote the spiritual good and best
interests of particular individuals. Moving the focus away from meeting the
particular needs of those in your care towards meeting your own needs is
unprofessional and an abuse of your role.
4.1 Personal and Professional Boundaries
Boundaries enable the effective functioning of caring and supportive
relationships in which healthcare chaplains can respond to the spiritual and
religious needs of those in their care. Boundaries frame behaviour and
practice so that pastoral relationships are consistent and their limitations clear
to all parties involved. In particular you must:
• observe personal and professional boundaries in your practice that sustain
the integrity and rights of those in your care;
• recognise and work within your personal and professional limits and where
necessary refer to a col eague or other health and social care professional.
•
not behave in ways which exploit, manipulate, intimidate or which cause
distress, pain or harm;
•
not impose your values, beliefs or practices on those in your care; or fail to
respect their beliefs, values or spiritual interests;
•
not display sexualised behaviour towards those in your care4;
•
not misuse a person’s assets or money while having legitimate access to
them5.
8
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
4.2 Maintaining Trust
Spiritual care is both a privilege and a responsibility and you must only
practice in ways that enable trust and safeguard ethical relations with those in
your care. In particular you must:
• ensure that none of your actions or omissions could be detrimental to the
wel being of those in your care;
• maintain clear professional and personal boundaries in the relations you
establish with those in your care;
• involve those in your care in decisions about the support and care you
provide and facilitate;
• respect the autonomy of those in your care including their freedom to
make decisions contrary to your beliefs, practices or advice;
• avoid any conflicts of interest but in the event that you have to withdraw
your involvement on the grounds of conscience, faith or ethical principles,
refer to a colleague or another health and social care professional to
enable the continued provision of care.
9
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
4.3 Respecting Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an expression of trust that enables people to talk about
personal and private concerns relevant to their spiritual health and wel being.
Spiritual and religious care cannot be provided without access to and the use
of personal and confidential information. You must therefore respect and
promote confidences, and in particular you must:
• respect the right of individuals to control access to their own personal
information and to limit its disclosure;
• establish the boundaries of confidentiality with those in your care and
respect as far as possible the limitations of disclosure that an individual
can reasonably expect or request;
• treat information about those in your care as confidential and use it only
for the purposes for which it was given;
• guard against breaches of confidentiality at all times by protecting
information from improper disclosure;
• ensure that confidential information is not disclosed to a third party unless
there is a clear justification which may include: (1) the valid consent of the
individual; (2) where there is a risk of serious harm; (3) the prevention,
detection or prosecution of a serious crime; (4) and when required by an
order of a court or other public body that has jurisdiction6;
• discuss with those in your care reasons why disclosing confidential
information to other chaplains or members of the healthcare team may be
in their best interests and enable good care;
• only disclose confidential information about those in your care who are
not capable of consent (for example because they are unconscious) on the
grounds of necessity if it is clearly in the individual’s interest and the
disclosure is not contrary to the individual’s known values and beliefs;
• anonymise personal information to protect the identify of individuals
when discussing cases in supervision or spiritual direction.
10
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
4.4 The use of touch and physical contact
Touch is a basic human gesture and physical contact is an integral part of
healthcare. Touch conveys to many people reassurance, care and concern and
it can be a valuable expression of a supportive and caring relationship. But
touch is not value-‐free, it is conditioned by social and cultural norms and it
can convey powerful signals. Therefore touch may be perceived as
threatening or manipulative, it could be physically painful and it can be a form
of abuse. Hands also carry microorganisms that can be transmitted through
touch and may cause harm to those susceptible to infection.
Healthcare chaplains use touch informal y as a gesture of care and formally
within rituals to signify beliefs and theological actions. However, because the
use of touch can be misunderstood or misinterpreted, or it may be unwanted,
it must always be used with sensitivity and where there is any doubt
permission should be obtained.
The use of ritual that involves touch should be clearly explained and
permission obtained. Where an individual does not have the capacity to
consent to ritual touch a chaplain may act on the grounds of necessity if it is
clearly in the individual’s interest and it is not contrary to the individual’s
known values and beliefs; or in the case of a minor lacking capacity, is not
contrary to the wishes of someone with parental responsibility. Physical
contact must be stopped if there are signs of discomfort or at the person’s
request.
11
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
5 Working with col eagues
Spiritual and religious care involves chaplains working effectively with other
chaplains, health and social care professionals, volunteers, ministers of
religion and representatives of faith communities or belief groups. In
particular you must:
• respect the skil s, contributions and integrity of col eagues;
• work in a collaborative and co-‐operative manner with colleagues and
multidisciplinary teams and communicate effectively with them within the
limits of confidentiality;
• ensure that you make arrangements for those in your care requiring
continuing support and care at the end of your shift or commencement of
leave;
• work within professional protocols and boundaries of confidentiality when
receiving or initiating referrals and liaising with colleagues outside your
employing health body;
• challenge colleagues whom you have reason to consider have behaved
unethical y or in contravention of this Code and be prepared to bring your
concerns to those to whom they are accountable.
12
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
6 Probity in professional practice
The office of a chaplain requires the highest standards of moral integrity and
honesty. In particular you must:
• be honest and accurate in representing your professional affiliations,
qualifications, and experience, and do not make unjustifiable claims about
your competence;
• distinguish between pastoral care and formal counsel ing and ensure that
those in your care understand the type of support you are offering;
• refrain from encouraging those in your care to give, lend or bequeath
money or gifts which wil be of a direct or indirect benefit, or put pressure
on those in your care to make donations;
• manage any finances for which your are responsible with diligence and for
the purpose for which they are intended;
• declare any conflicts of interest that may compromise your impartiality or
the interests of those in your care;
• demonstrate honesty and objectivity when providing references for
colleagues or completing and signing forms. You must take reasonable
steps to verify any statement before you sign a document, and you must
not write or sign documents that are false or misleading.
13
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
7 Dealing with misconduct
Professional misconduct is conduct that contravenes the standards of
professional behaviour required of healthcare chaplains by the professional
associations and set out in this Code.
7.1 Disciplining chaplaincy staff
An employing health body is responsible for the disciplining of its staff,
including chaplaincy staff. Where the al eged misconduct relates to matters of
a professional nature, it is good practice for the case investigator to obtain
independent advice from a UKBHC Professional Adviser. Where the al eged
misconduct involves a complaint about the faith and life of the chaplain in
relation to their faith community or belief group a senior representative of the
chaplain’s faith community or belief group should be consulted.
7.2 The capability of a chaplain
Misconduct should not be confused with capability issues which are a clear
failure by a chaplain to meet an adequate standard of practice through lack of
knowledge, ability or consistent poor performance. The current standard of
professional practice for a healthcare chaplain is defined by the UKBHC in its
document:
Spiritual and Religious Care Capabilities and Competences for
Healthcare Chaplaincy7.
7.3 Professional Regulation and Registration
The UKBHC operates a voluntary register of competent chaplains and a
chaplain may be reported to a professional association for contravening the
standards of professional behaviour set out in this Code. The UKBHC wil
consider whether the status of a chaplain’s registration should be subject to
conditions, suspended or removed depending upon the level and type of
misconduct.
14
UKBHC Code of Conduct for Healthcare Chaplains
8 References
1 UKBHC (2009a)
Spiritual and Religious Care Capabilities and Competences for Healthcare
Chaplains. Cambridge: UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy.
2 UKBHC (2009b)
, Standards for Healthcare Chaplaincy Services. Cambridge: UK Board of
Healthcare Chaplaincy.
3 SEHD (2002) Guidelines on Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the NHS in Scotland. Edinburgh:
Scottish Executive Health Department
4 CHRE (2008)
Clear sexual boundaries between healthcare professionals and patients:
responsibilities of healthcare professionals. London: Council for Healthcare Regulatory
Excel ence
5 Chaplains must comply with the financial instructions of their employing health body
regarding the handling of money received from public acts of worship or gifts of money
towards hospital chapels or trust funds.
6 DoH (2003)
Confidentiality: NHS Code of Conduct. London: Department of Health; DHSSPS
(2009)
Code of Practice on Protecting the Confidentiality of Service User Information. Belfast:
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety; NHS Scotland (2003)
NHS Code of
Conduct on Protecting Patient Confidentiality. Edinburgh: NHS Scotland
7 UKBHC (2009a) ibid
15