SPIRITUAL care is being provided to patients, visitors and staff at the new Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary – thanks to its brand new facility, ‘The Sanctuary’.
Dawn Allan took up her role as Spiritual Care Lead for NHS Dumfries and Galloway last year, and is now operating out of the £213 million hospital’s impressive unit dedicated to offering a non-denominational area for peace, prayer and support.
Settling into the new facility, Dawn said: “I’ve recently moved into my lovely Sanctuary office in the fantastic new DGRI, but I work across Dumfries and Galloway not only developing the spiritual care service but involved as Bereavement Lead, working with colleagues in health and social care, third sector and other partners.”
She added: “I sometimes describe what I do as being like a ‘bridge’ to signpost and guide people to support services and places that will benefit them whether they have a faith, belief, philosophy or none.”
Dawn is also providing support to staff across Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership, from Stranraer to Langholm, including those working at the new DRGI at Garroch Loaning.
Stressing that she has an open door policy to staff, she said: “Communication is key to everything and I aim to have conversations with staff about not only the needs of patients and their loved ones but about staff needs in developing a service that works for NHS Dumfries and Galloway.”
The Sanctuary itself sits in the heart of the new hospital.
It features an area which can host a gathering, quiet side rooms and special facilities for washing ahead of prayer, as required by different religions.
Dawn’s previous work has been varied, ranging from dental nursing in South Africa to teaching IT software programmes in Japan.
She said: “It was a relief when I graduated as a mature student in 2003 with my BA (Hons) Theology. Finally, it felt like I’d found ‘my niche’ and the world of healthcare chaplaincy was where I was most at home.
“There have been vast changes in healthcare chaplaincy since 2003 and NHS Scotland Spiritual Care has been a leading voice in helping implement changes.
“In April 2017 the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy’s (UKBHC) register was accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) for Health and Social Care, this aligns healthcare chaplains with other Allied Health Care Professionals (AHPs).”
Since graduating, Dawn has undertaken a number of courses and post-graduate studies related to managing and supporting people.
Dawn started her career in spiritual care as the palliative care chaplain in Glasgow’s old Beatson Oncology Centre in 2003 and has worked with the Marie Curie hospices in Glasgow and Newcastle and other independent hospices in England until she returned to the NHS when she worked for NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney in 2015.
Setting out a particular area for focus in her work, she said: “One of my passions is to encourage everyone to communicate more openly about death and dying.”
But aware of the demands faced by staff working within the NHS, she added: “A phrase I remind myself of is, ‘you can’t pour out of an empty cup’.
“We all benefit from support and someone to go to when our hearts are either breaking or we just need to bounce our ideas around whatever helps us to stay resilient and healthy at work.”
