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1. The bean counters find the softest targets to axe. I wil bet London to a Brick that this will not attract too much comment from the secularists in our community yet the Clergy will be expected to drop everything and come to the Hospitals when they are needed instead of having someone on tap at all times.

   Posted By: Neil

2. As the CEO of the Healthcare Chaplaincy Council of Victoria and the National President of the Australian Health and Welfare Chaplains Association, I write to express my dismay at the axing of the chaplaincy position to Lismore Base Hospital and the comments of the Chief Executive, Chris Crawford. While it is unusual for a rural hospital to employ a full-time chaplain, that is to be recognised as a progressive move. I am currently working with a number of rural hospitals who wish to move towards ensuring that the spiritual care and support of their patients and staff is provided by qualified chaplains/pastoral carers, recognising that this is more than the provision of religious services. While aspects of this service can be provided by appropriately trained volunteers, this can only be done where volunteers are trained, supervised and supported by experienced and qualified chaplaincy/pastoral care staff. There is an increasing recognition of the place of spiritual care in health as a significant aspect of providing holistic health care. Axing the chaplaincy position at Lismore Hospital can only be seen as a diminishment to the quality of person centred health care.

   Posted By: Reverend Cheryl Holmes

3. Here we go again wth hospital administrators who mostly have little understanding of the work of chaplains in hospitals, making decisions that are plainly pitiable. This is clearly the case with Mr Crawford who thinks that the work of a chaplain can be done by volunteers. To axe a chaplain whose stipend/payment is miniscule in the whole budget of a health system is plainly misdirected and the so called 'saving' will hardly contribute to providing for the other services required of the Area Health Service. Spiritual care is not something to be dismissed in favour of 'clinical services'. Extensive current literature shows that the provision of spiritual care is an integral part of the health care protocol and is promulgated as such by the Department of Health in their promotion of holistic health care. This is yet another example of the 'bean counters' playing at saving money by aiming in the wrong areas. They would do far better to consider the immense amount of wastage in other areas, but prefer to take aim at the 'soft' targets. I doubt that any approach was made to The Civil Chaplaincies Advisory Committee, the body established by the State Government to deal with matters concerning chaplaincies in Government Departments such as Health, Corrective Services and Juvenile Justice. I am currently the Deputy Chair of CCAC and we have heard nothing of this to my knowledge.

   Posted By: Fr Roy O'Neill MSC

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