Children's Hospital Chaplaincy

The Children’s hospital chaplaincy team has conducted international research into paediatric chaplaincy and spiritual care. We have produced a number of resources based on our research and the team’s extensive experience, including books on multi-faith care, spiritual care and paediatric chaplaincy.

The team

BCH charactersThe multi-faith team is made up of six part-time chaplains, as well as honorary chaplains, volunteers and youth and children’s workers, as well as one full-time project coordinator.

Chaplains of the following faiths regularly visit the hospital and wards:

  • Christian (Church of England, Methodist, Free Church and Roman Catholic)
  • Muslim
  • Hindu
  • Sikh

We have representatives from the Buddhist and Jewish community who we can contact if patients and families request it. For any other faiths, please contact the Chaplaincy team and we will do our best to help you.

Location and facilities

The chaplaincy office is located the first floor of the Children's hospital, opposite the entrance to PICU.

We have the following facilities for staff and families at the hospital:

  • The Chapel on the first-floor, including a prayer book and memorial tree. Please see the board on the wall outside the Chapel for service times
  • A Muslim prayer room on the first floor opposite the chaplaincy office. This has an area for washing, separates spaces for men and women, copies of the Qur’an and prayer mats. Imam Aftab Parwaz leads two sets of Jummah prayers on a Friday, please see the board outside the prayer room for times
  • A spiritual care room at Parkview clinic in Moseley, with activities to encourage reflection. Please ask a member of the ward staff if you would like to visit

Volunteering

Volunteers work with the chaplaincy team in a variety of roles, including visiting patients on the ward, prayers and hospitality in our chapel and administrative support.

We are currently only recruiting for administrative volunteers to help with office-based tasks. If you are interested in volunteering with us please contact Rev'd Emmanuel Bwalya Emmanuel.bwalya@nhs.net.

Contact details

Rev'd Paul Nash (senior chaplain): p.nash@nhs.net, 0121 333 8526/7

If there is no answer or you have an out of hours emergency please contact ward staff or call switchboard (0121 333 9999) and ask for the on-call chaplain.