February update on the Spiritual Care Model Co-Design project
On 8th February, twenty-three people, who understand and can influence governance in hospitals, as well as people who work in the sector, including in research and education and those who have lived experience of spiritual care, gathered to discuss a proposed draft model designed to improve the quality of spiritual care for people in hospital in Australia.
Within the two-hour forum, attendees were given contextual information, based on the 2022 ideas arising out of a wider engagement process which included nine interviews and a survey with 59 responses, to support their four rounds of discussion.
Four prioritised areas of the draft model were discussed that include (1) Holistic person-centre care; (2) Integrated governance; (3) Professional workforce; (4) Sustainable resourcing. Recommendations for improvements to the models were provided to the project team, including (but not limited to):
- Under priority number 1, the team suggested to consider the acute setting bias; variations of scope of practice; language and terminologies need to be explored and further resolved.
- Under priority number 2, it is recommended that consistency of governance across all affiliated organisations and the health sector and quality assurance and alignment to the National Safety and Quality in Health Standards.
The project team will resume in the first week of March to review the draft report and recommendations to endorse the report.
Read more about the Spiritual Care Model co-design project.
Dr. Cuong La, Spiritual Health Association's Research and Policy Leader
February 2023