If you or a loved one are admitted to hospital, remember that the Church and other Christian bodies work hard with NHS hospital trusts to provide a good chaplaincy service in NHS hospitals, and the work done by chaplaincy teams is regulated by contract. There are very good teams at the hospitals in London to which people are admitted, including Catholic priests and deacons (the new lead chaplain of the Kings Trust which runs the hospital at Farnborough is a Catholic deacon).
This means that it is the responsibility of these teams to see you and minister to you when you go into hospital – it’s their job. So when you are admitted you should ask the ward or the hospital switchboard to contact the RC chaplain.
If it is urgent he is on call, 24 hours a day (one of our clergy provides this cover one night a week at the PRUH). While it is helpful if you let the clergy here know, the most important thing is to let the chaplaincy team know at the hospital. Switchboard numbers are: PRUH – 01689 863 000, KINGS – 020 3299 9000, LEWISHAM – 020 3228 6000
Ask for the Chaplaincy.