As well as pastoral care and the provision of the sacraments to the members of our parish congregations, the Diocese – often in collaboration with other organisations – offers chaplaincy services to those who cannot be part of a regular parish community. This includes patients in hospitals, prisoners and seafarers.
Hospital chaplains or lay pastoral visitors can be usually be seen on request by contacting the Chaplaincy department at the hospital concerned. Because of data protection requirements, patients or their close relatives must usually make a direct request to be seen by a chaplain: it is not enough simply to state ones religion when admitted to a hospital.
All major hospitals have an “on call” system to contact a Catholic priest who will attend in an emergency. Ward staff are usually able to request this service through the Hospital switchboard, although the system may vary from hospital to hospital.
Port chaplaincy contacts are given on this page. Prison chaplains may be contacted care of the prison.
