A hospital chaplain has been awarded accreditation to the UK Board for Healthcare Chaplains (UKBHC).
It comes after the Revd Jane Easterby, Anglican Hospital Chaplain at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, achieved her Postgraduate Certificate in Chaplaincy from Durham University.
Jane has become one of only four registered board chaplains in the North East.
To achieve accreditation, she completed 15 months of study and evidence collecting, supervised by the Revd Gareth Rowlands, Lead Chaplain at Gateshead NHS Trust.
UKBHC was established in 2009, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the public by setting high standards for professional practice of healthcare chaplains and maintaining a register of qualified chaplains.
The postgraduate study was funded by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, with some costs covered by Jane’s parish Holy Trinity with St Mark, Stockton, and from diocesan Continuing Ministerial Development clergy grants.
Revd Paul Neville, Area Dean and Vicar of Holy Trinity with St Mark, Stockton, where Jane served her curacy while studying for her postgraduate certificate, said: “During the time that Jane was with us at Holy Trinity Church, she served our church so well, including a number of our congregation who spent time at North Tees Hospital. This was such a blessing to us, which is why we fully supported Jane in her course and in her accreditation as a board registered healthcare chaplain. It was out privilege.”
Jane expressed her gratitude saying: “I would like to extend grateful thanks to all concerned, who enabled this to happen.”
Photo L-R: Revd Paul Neville, Stacey Hunter, Group Chief Executive of Tees University Hospitals, which includes North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, Revd Jane Easterby, and the Ven Rick Simpson, Archdeacon of Auckland. This photo was taken at Jane’s licensing as an Anglican Chaplain to the Trust on 29 October 2024.