The Princess Royal Hospital is to advertise vacancies for three days a week pastoral support – a month after ending contracts with former chaplains.
Hospital bosses revealed in February they would not renew contracts for three part-time chaplains, a move which caused a storm of public protest.
This week they unveiled plans for a recruitment drive because a “more comprehensive service” had been developed to extend support to patients.
However, The Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said the new posts may not fill the current need.
“This is welcome,” he said. “But still does not go far enough to fill gaps left by the loss of other chaplains in April.
“By definition it is a half measure rather than a full service.”
A spokesman for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said the move followed a review into the range of ‘emotional and spiritual support’ for patients and not a way to save money.
He said: “This review indicated we were not using our resources in the best way to provide the widest range of pastoral support.
“As a result we decided to make some changes, including restructuring the chaplaincy service and providing additional support to vulnerable adults.
“We were clear at that time that we would be looking to replace this support as we developed new arrangements to provide a more comprehensive service for our patients.
“This work is nearly completed, and we are aiming to extend the service so we can provide more access to chaplaincy services on Saturdays, restructure the working day to provide more access at the time when people tend to use the service and to provide additional cover for sickness and annual leave.
“As a result, we are planning to recruit three days a week of chaplaincy support, and these posts are due to be advertised shortly.”
Alan Milllward, chairman of the Friends of the Princess Royal Hospital accused hospital authorities of making a U-turn over their decision to end the chaplains’ contracts.
“Can’t they get it right the first time?” he said.
“They had three part-time chaplains and now they have found out they can’t cope.”
Pat Smart, chairman of Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council, said: “This is a great relief to people going into hospital and their families.
“It is a difficult time in their life – they need all the spiritual and emotional help they can get. It is a victory for people power.”
The trust spokesman added: “As we have consistently said we have simply been looking for ways to provide better support for the emotional and spiritual needs of our patients within the resources available to us.
“In order to do this we needed to put new contracts in place for our chaplains, which is what we are doing now. Overall we are confident this will improve the quality of service we are providing for our patients.”
