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Not a cure for sick parishes!
Not a private care plan for elderly vicars!
Not a strategy for giving injections and treatments
Not even traditional nursing or health advice by
people using church premises.

Download an information leaflet here.

Congregations have been promoting health and wholeness for centuries through worship, music, sharing and caring. Celtic monks have travelled around Europe in healing and prayer ministries, Christians have started hospitals and hospices, denominations have trained hospital chaplains, and churches have employed nurses as deaconesses.

But with the development of the N.H.S, health care has become more distanced from the church. Christian health professionals and chaplains do a great job but sometimes feel restricted by regulations and time pressures that prevent them from praying with patients when they feel that spiritual care is what is needed. At the same time in our culture Health, Fitness and Spirituality seem to have taken on a life of their own, completely outside of the church

Parish nursing is a way of rediscovering the essential wholeness of the Gospel as Jesus proclaimed it… body and soul. Churches are encouraged to recognise and employ specially trained nurses as part of their ministry teams to deliver holistic health care … Spiritual and physical … amongst their congregations and communities.

This can happen on a part-time or voluntary basis, but may be full-time if resources permit. It may be done in partnership with the existing health care providers and is always complementary to them. It may be taken up by any faith community. There is evidence of wide acceptance of the concept in a variety of denominations in America, but it is also gaining credence in Canada and Australia where the Health services are more similar to those available in the U.K.

Parish nurses are not purveyors of injections and dressings. They are nurse practitioners with experience in preventive medicine and some theological training. They are staff members of the church’s ministry team, working together with the congregation to promote the holistic message of the Gospel in the local community.

A small interdenominational and multi-professional group has taken on the task of promoting parish nursing in the U.K. Pilot projects are being set up and will be properly evaluated.

An induction course for health professionals is available and it is hoped that special post-graduate learning modules will be developed for those who wish to take up this role. Continuing in-service training will be accessible, and accreditation processes will be developed.

Funding may be provided directly by churches, who may also need to apply for assistance from grant-making bodies and regeneration budgets.

Parish Nursing can operate through any faith community, or as an ecumenical venture, in partnership with local Health Care Services. Within the UK more than a dozen Parish Nursing projects have been initiated during the past two years.

The Historical Development of Parish Nursing

One fifth of the Christian Gospel is devoted to Jesus' healings and the ensuing debate around them. In Hebrew culture at this time, body and spirit were not divorced and Jesus viewed individuals as an essential unity. In His healing work He focused on relations between the person and God, the person and their neighbours, the person and the world. He commissioned disciples to continue his work. In The Acts of the Apostles we see that mission; a sense of wholeness and healing was an integral part of the work of the church. Since that time the church has, through its own varied experiences, sometimes of persecution and other times of acceptance and integration with the state, continued to engage in care and healing activities, but also in the developing debate between religion and science.

The influence of Greek and Roman thought and the development of science and particularly medical science throughout the ensuing centuries has led to a dualistic view of the person, with physical health perceived as the remit of doctors and health services and the church's role relegated to the care of the soul.

In the U.K. it is clear that the National Health Service cannot comprehensively meet the burgeoning demand for increasingly complex health care and there is a need for individuals and communities to reclaim a responsibility for whole person care. The recently published Department of Health document on Self Care verbalises this realisation. (Department of Health website, February 2005) The church, as part of its fundamental remit of bringing wholeness and salvation through Christ, is well equipped to engage more fully in this activity, reclaiming its original remit as commissioned by Jesus. However, those who undertake to operate in the ministry of Health care need to do it to agreed standards and quality of care. The establishment of Parish Nursing as a recognised practice provides the opportunity to protect the public.

The Parish Nurse Role was initially developed by Rev'd Grainger Westberg in the 1985 in USA1. He recognised the role that nurses, with their knowledge of both medical science and of the humanities, played in effecting a professional relationship between the medical establishment and the individual within the context of their community. He established the Parish Nurse role, which currently operates in approximately 10,000 churches throughout America.

In 2001 a group was convened by Dr Malcolm Rigler, General Practitioner, to explore the possibilities for development of this role within UK. Ann Solari-Twaddell (author of 'Parish Nursing - Promoting Whole Person Health Within Faith Communities, Sage Publications, London, 1999) was invited to present the case for this at a National conference in July 2001.

In December 2001, Rev'd Helen Wordsworth, a Baptist minister with a background in nursing and health visiting, submitted a dissertation toward an M.Th. to The University of Wales2, developing the concept for application in the UK. A number of conferences have subsequently been run throughout the UK to explore the idea with health care staff and clergy. A steering group was been established to take this forward. Eight pilot projects in a number of Christian denominations commenced in January 2004, supported by an education programme.

A further group of 8 pilot projects commenced in January 2005. Since then training courses have been held twice a year. The scope and standards for practice in Parish Nursing are being developed and issues of accountability and clinical governance are being explored.
Some steering group members attended the 18th Westberg Symposium on Parish Nursing in St Louis in September 2004 and at this Symposium agreement was reached on the development of a World Forum for Parish Nursing. A further group of pilot nurses and tutors visited the U.S.A. in February 2005 to observe and learn from practicing Parish Nurses in varieties of denominational and social contexts in Milwaukee, Chicago and St Louis.

A total of 43 nurses have now been through the introductory course, and these are working in around 29 churches, in England and Wales, some churches having more than one Parish Nurse.
The new charity, Parish nursing Ministries UK now has a Council of Reference, a board of Trustees, and six regional coordinators who work with the UK Coordinator to promote develop and coordinate Parish nursing in different parts of the UK.

1 Westberg, &.E. & McNamara J.W. (1990), The Parish Nurse. Augsburg Fortress USA.
2 Wordsworth, H. A. (2001), Parish Nursing - A Mission Opportunity for Local Churches in England?. A dissertation submitted to the University of Wales in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of Master of Theology, (unpublished)