Issued by the Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby, on behalf of those Church Leaders who met with the Trust, namely:

The Revd Bill Anderson, Chair of the Birmingham District (Methodist)

The Most Revd Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham (Roman Catholic)

The Revd Elizabeth Welch, Moderator of the West Midlands Province (United Reformed Church)

We welcome warmly the decision of the Board of the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust about the maintenance of chaplaincy services in their three hospitals. We recognise for this and the next financial year, while the Trust restores its accounts to balance, this will be done with assistance from the Friends of the three hospitals; we thank the Friends very warmly for that and confirm that we shall be asking our members to give money to support them in that task.

We are particularly glad that the Trust Board has agreed to return the chaplaincy service fully, albeit in the reduced form, to their mainstream budget in 2008, and has reaffirmed its support for what the chaplaincy service can provide.

This has been a very difficult time, and we have always recognised that the Trust faces serious financial difficulties. Part of our reason for speaking out so strongly in support of the chaplaincy has been the need to provide its particular kind of support to staff in such a difficult period, as well as to patients.

There is no point in our concealing the reluctance with which we accept even this smaller than originally planned reduction in the chaplaincy service. It will be possible, though hard, to maintain the service now that we have a full-time chaplain in both the Alexandra and Worcester Royal Hospitals who between them are going to cover the requirements of the Kidderminster Hospital. That still leaves some questions about, for instance, on-call cover, about which we are in discussion with them.

We have a particular concern for our chaplains at this time. This has been a very difficult time for them, and we pay tribute to the dignity which they have displayed throughout. They continue to need the active support of the churches, which we shall give, and a recognition that part of what lies ahead is a challenge to them, to the Churches and to the Trust to rebuild the confidence which has suffered inevitably during this period.

We shall all pray for grace and wisdom in the months ahead. A great challenge has been met with resolve, and the willingness of the Trust to join in a search for a way forward is something we greatly welcome.

ENDS.

The Diocese of Worcester is one of 44 dioceses in the Church of England. It covers an area of 671 square miles and includes parishes in the County of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a few parishes in northern Gloucestershire, south east Wolverhampton and Sandwell.