About Us
Parish Nursing is all about supporting people and communities towards whole person healthcare. It can happen through a local church of any denomination, and people can be referred to their own faith community if they so desire. Click here for more information about the nature of parish nursing.
Whole person healthcare is about the person’s overall well-being, which includes spiritual, physical, mental and social aspects of health.
All Parish Nurses are registered nurses and are appointed or employed through a local church or Christian organisation. Most of them continue to work for the NHS and we value our links with all NHS and other relevant professionals.
Parish Nursing Ministries UK promotes this exciting concept and helps churches and nurses to develop it.
Whole person healthcare is about a person’s overall well-being. It is care for their body, mind and spirit. Rooted in the Biblical concept of ‘Shalom’, we believe that these areas of well-being are integrated and often have an impact on each other.
Our nurses support people of all ages and backgrounds towards whole person healthcare. Whether it’s simply giving moral support during a medical crisis – giving general health advice or educating for health – “signposting” people to various support or medical services – praying for people – clarifying medical procedures or issues, etc – or simply listening (which they do an awful lot of!) – they focus on the person, rather than just a specific medical condition.
If prescriptions, dressings, injections, or help with personal care are needed, they are provided by the health and social care services, but the parish nurse can be the link, ensuring that people use the health services appropriately, and understand their medication, care and condition. They can help to prevent hospital admissions by following up people who have been discharged from care, are at risk, or have early signs of health problems. They train and coordinate volunteers to provide extra support during times of crisis. They encourage exercise and healthy nutrition, so that preventable diseases are less likely to ensue.
This integration of the different aspects of health is the main reason why we believe our ministry is so special.
The work can vary tremendously depending on the community needs, the nurse’s vision, time available, strategy, competences and gifting. Some parish nurses are mental health trained, others have paediatric or midwifery qualifications. All have worked in the community, either in a voluntary or professional capacity. Visit our case stories section for further examples.
Parish Nursing Ministries UK is the only body in the UK that provides the training, professional support and accreditation for churches or Christian organisations that want to offer Parish nursing services. We encourage churches to employ/appoint registered nurses as part of their mission in the community. This can be on a part-time, full-time, paid or voluntary basis, depending on the church’s circumstances.
We have a step by step process for churches and Christian organisations to enable them to become safe, effective and person-centred providers of parish nursing services. The first stage is a free enquiry pack which may be requested by sending an email from this site to our office. After that, for a small fee, we can send out one of our Advocates to help you and your church or organisation decide whether or not you wish to take this initiative further.
Our Regional Coordinators are then available to work with the church and the Parish Nurse to think through how the nurse’s skills, competences and experience can best be deployed. Together they will develop a plan based on the church and nurse’s vision, strategy and gifting, guided by the Coordinator’s experience, ideas and knowledge.
Are there specific and common health issues in amongst the congregation and local communities? Are there any groups or communities that the church is trying to serve and reach out to? How can the nurse help them achieve this? What ideas have worked with other Parish Nursing projects and how can they be used for this church? And so on…
Parish Nursing Ministries UK provides training for the nurse including a residential course, with particular emphasis on integrating specialist nursing skills with spiritual care, as well as various other aspects of the role. We also offer study days, seminars and a regular symposium.
Crucially, this is backed-up by ongoing support from the Regional Coordinator. This includes advice for the church and the nurse, professional updates, ideas from other projects, cluster meetings, seminars and retreat days. We have a quality assurance scheme for each church that has a parish nurse. And downloadable resources such as sample policies and documentation.
We are a registered charitable company with nine trustees who between them contribute a variety of skills. We are also privileged to have Fiona Castle as a patron.
Fiona was a contributor at our tenth anniversary celebrations in November 2013.
In addition we have a Council of Reference…leaders in their field who are willing to give us advice when we need it:
Our CEO is Dr Ros Moore, who was previously Chief Nurse for Scotland and a member of the Methodist Church.
She leads a team of ten regional coordinators who work an average of two to three days a month, and is supported by two part-time staff: a PA and a finance officer. We are recruiting advocates who work on a sessional basis to help us promote the ministry of Parish nursing and would be pleased to hear from anyone who would like to help us do this.
Revd Dr Helen Wordsworth, who was a founder of Parish Nursing in the UK and is a registered nurse educator with health visiting qualifications, now works part-time in an advocacy role, liaising with church leaders about developing health ministry, helping with the education programmes and developing the international links. She was previously employed as a regional minister with the Central Baptist Association, working with church leaders in a variety of denominations. Her doctoral research was on parish nursing and may be accessed through her book “Rediscovering a Ministry of Health”, published by Wipf and Stock,2015, and available online or to order from bookshops. She has subsequently written a Grove booklet: “Nursing and the Mission of the Church” available through the grove books website.
We are now co-developing a European network for Parish nursing, building on the links we already have with nurses working from churches in Finland, Ukraine, Germany and Georgia.
Visit our case stories section for further examples.
Whole person healthcare is about the person’s overall well-being, which includes spiritual, physical, mental and social aspects of health.
All Parish Nurses are registered nurses and are appointed or employed through a local church or Christian organisation. Most of them continue to work for the NHS and we value our links with all NHS and other relevant professionals.
Parish Nursing Ministries UK promotes this exciting concept and helps churches and nurses to develop it.
Our nurses support people of all ages and backgrounds towards whole person healthcare. Whether it’s simply giving moral support during a medical crisis – giving general health advice or educating for health – “signposting” people to various support or medical services – praying for people – clarifying medical procedures or issues, etc – or simply listening (which they do an awful lot of!) – they focus on the person, rather than just a specific medical condition.
If prescriptions, dressings, injections, or help with personal care are needed, they are provided by the health and social care services, but the parish nurse can be the link, ensuring that people use the health services appropriately, and understand their medication, care and condition. They can help to prevent hospital admissions by following up people who have been discharged from care, are at risk, or have early signs of health problems. They train and coordinate volunteers to provide extra support during times of crisis. They encourage exercise and healthy nutrition, so that preventable diseases are less likely to ensue.
This integration of the different aspects of health is the main reason why we believe our ministry is so special.
The work can vary tremendously depending on the community needs, the nurse’s vision, time available, strategy, competences and gifting. Some parish nurses are mental health trained, others have paediatric or midwifery qualifications. All have worked in the community, either in a voluntary or professional capacity. Visit our case stories section for further examples.
We have a step by step process for churches and Christian organisations to enable them to become safe, effective and person-centred providers of parish nursing services. The first stage is a free enquiry pack which may be requested by sending an email from this site to our office. After that, for a small fee, we can send out one of our Advocates to help you and your church or organisation decide whether or not you wish to take this initiative further.
Our Regional Coordinators are then available to work with the church and the Parish Nurse to think through how the nurse’s skills, competences and experience can best be deployed. Together they will develop a plan based on the church and nurse’s vision, strategy and gifting, guided by the Coordinator’s experience, ideas and knowledge.
Are there specific and common health issues in amongst the congregation and local communities? Are there any groups or communities that the church is trying to serve and reach out to? How can the nurse help them achieve this? What ideas have worked with other Parish Nursing projects and how can they be used for this church? And so on…
Parish Nursing Ministries UK provides training for the nurse including a residential course, with particular emphasis on integrating specialist nursing skills with spiritual care, as well as various other aspects of the role. We also offer study days, seminars and a regular symposium.
Crucially, this is backed-up by ongoing support from the Regional Coordinator. This includes advice for the church and the nurse, professional updates, ideas from other projects, cluster meetings, seminars and retreat days. We have a quality assurance scheme for each church that has a parish nurse. And downloadable resources such as sample policies and documentation.
Fiona was a contributor at our tenth anniversary celebrations in November 2013.
In addition we have a Council of Reference…leaders in their field who are willing to give us advice when we need it:
Our CEO is Dr Ros Moore, who was previously Chief Nurse for Scotland and a member of the Methodist Church.
She leads a team of ten regional coordinators who work an average of two to three days a month, and is supported by two part-time staff: a PA and a finance officer. We are recruiting advocates who work on a sessional basis to help us promote the ministry of Parish nursing and would be pleased to hear from anyone who would like to help us do this.
Revd Dr Helen Wordsworth, who was a founder of Parish Nursing in the UK and is a registered nurse educator with health visiting qualifications, now works part-time in an advocacy role, liaising with church leaders about developing health ministry, helping with the education programmes and developing the international links. She was previously employed as a regional minister with the Central Baptist Association, working with church leaders in a variety of denominations. Her doctoral research was on parish nursing and may be accessed through her book “Rediscovering a Ministry of Health”, published by Wipf and Stock,2015, and available online or to order from bookshops. She has subsequently written a Grove booklet: “Nursing and the Mission of the Church” available through the grove books website.
We are now co-developing a European network for Parish nursing, building on the links we already have with nurses working from churches in Finland, Ukraine, Germany and Georgia.
Visit our case stories section for further examples.
