Faith Groups Fight to Retain Chaplaincy Services in Metro Vancouver Hospitals
BURNABY – The B.C. Liberals’ decision to eliminate the role of hospital-based chaplains in acute care will harm patients and their families, many of whom find faith is key to healing, said New Democrats today.
Adrian Dix“A holistic approach that recognizes the role of a person's faith in recovery has become the standard in health care. By eliminating the role chaplains play, the B.C. Liberals are creating a gap in patient care,” said Adrian Dix, New Democrat health critic.
The Fraser Health Authority is cutting twelve acute care spiritual care practitioners, which the government has attempted to justify by claiming hospital-based chaplains provide a “non core service.”
“The government’s own record contradicts their claim that chaplains are dispensable. For years, the health authority and the B.C. Liberals acknowledged that spiritual care practitioners need to be part of the team who deliver patient care,” said Surrey MLA and deputy health critic Sue Hammell.
Hammell added that patients should not have to pay the price for the B.C. Liberals’ bungling of FHA’s budget for their own re-election purposes.
“If the government had allowed FHA to plan its budget earlier, the health authority could have avoided deep cuts to programs and staff. Being forced to balance the book mid-year has amplified the cutbacks,” said Hammell.
Dix noted that this decision undermines hospital care. “Recovery and healing involves physical, emotional and spiritual components. To make matters worse, reducing staff increases the likelihood that hospitals will push people through the system before they are fully recovered, costing more in the long term,” said Dix.
The health authority’s plan to attempt to replace hospital chaplains with social workers and volunteers is bound to fail, said Raj Chouhan, MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds.
“Social workers are also being laid off, despite the need for more staff to deal with the existing caseload. And it was the spiritual care practitioners who trained and oversaw volunteers,” said Chouhan.
The B.C. Association of Social Workers has also expressed deep concern about the cuts to hospital-based chaplains, saying it amounts to huge loss for patients.
Representatives from faith groups joined New Democrats today in urging the Health Minister to restore the spiritual care positions.
Carole James and New Democrats are holding the B.C. Liberals accountable for breaking their word on the HST, and for backtracking on their election promises to protect health care, education, and other vital services.
