08.07.2014
Expert Group Set Up to Assess Provision of Hospital Chaplaincy in Dublin and Glendalough
A new group has been set up to address issues of chaplaincy in hospitals in Dublin and Glendalough. The group is to explore models of chaplaincy nationally and internationally and will make recommendations for sustainable provision of chaplaincy to in–patients and staff.
The expert group’s membership includes the Archdeacon of Dublin, the Ven David Pierpoint, Dr Melissa Webb, Mrs Joan Kirk, Canon Robert Warren, Canon David Moynan, the Revd Eugene Griffin and Canon Daniel Nuzum (as consultant to the group).
Members have been invited to think radically about chaplaincy provision in the United Dioceses and will report to Diocesan Councils by June 2015 at the latest.
The group was set up by Archbishop Michael Jackson after concerns were expressed over the provision of chaplaincy in some hospitals. He said that the provision of appropriate care and chaplaincy of those who are working in hospitals and of those who are patients in hospitals was a priority.
“The expansion of healthcare provision throughout the Dublin area has brought an urgent need for a review of such provision made by the Church of Ireland in these United Dioceses, both in larger and in smaller hospitals. It is essential that we do this sensitive work in line with the very best of contemporary care and practice and with the safety of the vulnerable as of paramount importance. I wish to thank all those who have agreed to serve on this group and to wish them well in the vital work which they have undertaken,” the Archbishop stated.
Archdeacon Pierpoint is Vicar of the Christ Church Cathedral Group of Parishes and has an understanding of hospital management through his membership of the board of Tallaght Hospital and the needs of healthcare staff through multiple hospital chaplaincies. This extends to the Gardai, the Legal Profession and to Government ministers and their families and staff.
Canon Daniel Nuzum is an accredited Healthcare Chaplain working at Cork University Hospital and Marymount University Hospice. Daniel has a specialist interest in perinatal ministry and palliative care and has presented and published research in this area. Daniel is a PhD student in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College Cork. As a professional chaplain Daniel is a member of the Chaplaincy Accreditation Board, a former member of the executive of the National Association of Healthcare Chaplains and engages locally, nationally and internationally in the field of chaplaincy.
Dr Melissa Webb is Vice President and a member of the board of the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin. She is a former Chairman of the board of the National Children’s Hospital and a board member of Tallaght Hospital (AMNCH). She has a special interest in patient and staff care and in nursing and midwifery.
Canon David Moynan served Curacies in Seagoe Parish (Dromore) and Taney Parish (Dublin) and was Rector of Arklow, Kilbride and Inch (Glendalough) before becoming Rector of Kilternan (Dublin) in 1994. He was assistant chaplain in Craigavon Area Hospital from 1986 to 1988 and has been Assistant Chaplin in St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown since 1996. He is also chaplain to Kilternan Care Centre and believes in the importance of pastoral visiting of those who are ill, preparing for hospital or convalescing as well as the supportive value of visiting people in hospital and the value of hospital chaplains in a patient’s wholeness, wellbeing and healing.
The Revd Eugene Griffin has been appointed as curate of the Castleknock with Mulhuddart and Clonsilla parish group and will commence his curacy in September 2014. He wrote his dissertation on the subject of clergy, grief and bereavement. Prior to his ordination as a deacon, Eugene was an accountant in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin. Alongside his work as an accountant, he was also a support contact person for the HSE’s anti–bullying initiative ‘Dignity in the workplace’, worked with the Irish Hospice Association on ‘end of life’ issues and was an active member of a committee which wrote the hospital’s handbook on staff bereavement. Eugene is a former auditor with the Comptroller and Auditor General where he worked primarily on audits of the health sector.
Mrs Joan Kirk is a member of Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Councils. She qualified s a nurse in 1971 having trained in the Adelaide Hospital. She was commissioned as a Diocesan Lay Reader 1996. In 2006 she was commissioned as chaplain for St John’s House. She also helped with chaplaincy in St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin for approximately four years starting in 2002.
Canon Robert Warren was Curate–assistant in Limerick City Parish from 1978 to 1981, Rector of Adare Union of Parishes (Limerick) from 1981 to 1988 and Rector of Tralee Union of parishes (Ardfert) from 1988 to 2012 when he became Rector of Taney Parish (Dublin). He was Diocesan Secretary of Limerick and Killaloe from 2002 to 2012 and Archdeacon of Limerick and Ardfert from 2008 to 2012. He has been a Canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, since 2004. He was chaplain to Limerick Regional Hospital from 1978 to 1981, Croom Orthopaedic Hospital from 1981 to 1988, Kerry General Hospital from 1988 to 2012, Bon Secours Hospital, Tralee, from 1988 to 2012 and is currently chaplain to the Beacon Hospital in Sandyford.