Spiritual care in the health service: still relevant and realistic?

This paper will question whether spiritual care, which has historically been an integral part of healthcare, is still relevant today. This will be achieved by looking at what consumers want and by looking at what the healthcare policies which shape our health services and the ethical codes/educational guidelines which shape the people delivering these services, have to say about that. The question of whether spiritual care is central to ‘good care’, and therefore necessary, will then be considered by examining practical examples of good and bad care and by drawing upon research evidence. Finally consideration will be given to the question of how realistic it is to deliver high quality spiritual care within an already stretched health service; suggestions for how that might happen are offered drawing upon examples of novel initiatives and research currently in progress.