Hospital chaplain says her role is like ‘helping people through a storm so they don’t feel afraid’
A head of chaplaincy at one of the region’s largest NHS trusts said there is no greater privilege than providing support and comfort to those in need – adding she “couldn’t imagine doing anything else”.
Linda Peall has worked as a healthcare chaplain within the NHS for the last 20 years, having spent the last six years at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT). Linda leads a multi-faith and belief team of chaplains and chaplaincy volunteers whose role is to provide pastoral, spiritual and religious care for patients, relatives, staff and volunteers across the trust’s hospital sites.
“I used to be a primary school teacher but I always knew there was something else I should be doing, but I didn’t know what it was,” she said.
“When I was later ordained we had a hospital over the road from the church – part of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. The vicar who trained me encouraged me to go and be a chaplaincy volunteer there so I started volunteering once a week. All through this time I knew I should be a priest but I didn't know whether the parish was the best place to do it. I ended up working as a chaplain at Darlington and Durham hospitals for five years before moving to Basildon Hospital, where I worked for 10 years, the last three as lead chaplain.
Then a job came up at ESNEFT and I knew it would be my last job before I retire. If you told me at the beginning of my career I would be a hospital chaplain I wouldn’t have believed it, but now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Linda said she sees her, and her team’s, role as providing round-the-clock wellbeing support to people across ESNEFT’s hospital sites, whatever their faith or beliefs.
“We are here when people are hounded by life’s circumstances and need a moment of shelter,” she said. “Our role as healthcare chaplains is to help people pause for a moment, providing a safe space for them to steady themselves, to discover the inner resources they need to get through.”
With 12,000 staff across ESNEFT’s hospitals and healthcare sites, the chaplaincy team also has a significant role in supporting staff.
“We have lots of staff and the sites are huge,” she said. “What we can do as chaplains is listen to staff and help them negotiate and navigate any problems. It’s our role to help staff have their voices heard. The senior leadership team cannot see or hear everything, so we support them in caring for our hardworking staff. We are like an independent advocate for staff as well as for patients.”
Linda said it is a great honour to be able to support people through their most difficult times.
“It’s an incredible privilege to support people when they are in pain or in despair,” she added. “By giving them some undivided attention, by listening with humanity and compassion they rediscover who they are, they rediscover hope. It’s great being able to help them feel at home in what can be such an alien environment. Anything we can do to make them feel as fully themselves as possible is a huge positive.
“Chaplaincy is not about fixing people. It’s about being with people and enabling them to find their own way through. It’s like sitting with someone during a storm so they don’t feel so afraid or alone.”
Linda said the best part of her role as head of chaplaincy was seeing her team of chaplains flourish in their work.
“I do still get on the wards and see patients, visitors and staff, which is amazing – but my greatest joy is seeing our chaplains grow in confidence and ability,” she said.
“Their impact on people going through difficult times is incredible. It’s very humbling when you see the resilience people have and the things they manage to get through. The joy of seeing the hope and purpose come back into someone’s life as you listen and support them, it’s like a flower opening to the sun. What greater joy can you have in the world than that?”
Archdeacon Rich Henderson, from the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, said: “The chaplaincy at Ipswich Hospital is there to remind us that we are never alone. Whether it’s sitting quietly with someone in pain, praying with a family in distress, or encouraging staff at the end of a hard shift, chaplains bring God’s presence into the everyday life of the hospital.
It’s a ministry of kindness, hope and deep listening.”
For more information on ESNEFT’s chaplaincy team, see here.