So, here are a few excerpts form the website or click on the link for pages and pages of interesting information.
We are a not-for-profit Christian organisation whose purpose is to maximise the wellbeing of society in community through three specific means
- Application of professional nursing skills to healthy living and coping with illness
- Response to people’s inner (spiritual) needs
- Mobilisation of ordinary members of church communities and beyond.
Parish Nursing Ministries UK provides and continues to develop training for registered nurses to become accredited Parish Nurses. We are engaged in development of the theology of health and wellbeing; in articulating the spiritual component and value; and in identifying good practice. We work collaboratively with complementary organisations; we are multi-denominational and non-sectarian.
You can arrange for someone to come and tell you more about the basic concept. There's a team of supporters who love Parish Nursing so much they've volunteered to explain it to others! Just send us a request for a visit.
Parish Nursing uses professional nursing skills in a Christian context and works across the UK with and through the church and its local community promoting whole-person health.
Rooted in a church community, a Parish Nurse combines the benefits of health with spiritual care and community resources. Parish Nursing has a strong foundation in Christian faith but is offered unconditionally to people of any faith.
Accountability is normally through the local church, and the projects are locally funded. Parish Nursing operates in consultation with other health providers.
Professional skill, care and compassion are qualities a Parish Nurse brings as part of a ministry team, for the benefit of that team and church, and for its community. The collaborative ministry includes training and co-ordinating of volunteers to participate in the church’s care for its local community.
This information was received from Helen Wordsworth, UK Co-ordinator of Parish Nursing Ministries UK.
ReplyDeleteWe now have 71 churches across nearly all denominations who are running parish nursing projects in the UK and the interest is growing all the time. We run the IPNRC one week introductory training course for registered nurses three times a year, and provide coordination and support for these projects through our regional coordinators.
Since we have Baptists, Methodists and other free church groups involved, the word “parish” is simply a good way of referring to the community focus of the ministry, not to any ecclesiastical or denominational identity. The word has associations with Christian faith but we do not use it in any exclusive way. We could use Faith Community nurse, as is common in some countries, but we feel that could potentially be more exclusive in a multi-faith and secular environment.
You are right that Lichfield was one our projects, (second tranche) but sadly the nurse there experienced a lot of ill-health and eventually had to retire early. The church have not yet found a replacement for her.
We have other Methodist projects, one in South Wales and one at Chippenham. If there are any ways that we can take part in Methodist seminars etc. to talk about and encourage more churches to take up this initiative we’d be happy to do that. We’re booked in to be at the Methodist exhibition at Southport in the Summer.