Our Neighbourhood Parish Nursing Service

Torch now offers a Neighbourhood Parish Nursing Service to the communities of Coley Park and Southcote in West Reading.

This new development integrates and runs alongside the other activities of Torch with the aim of helping to improve and maintain the holistic health and wellbeing of local people in these more deprived areas of Reading.

Why employ a Parish Nurse? 

Torch already works closely with the current Parish Nurse in South Reading who is employed through Reading Gateway Church and in doing so we have seen the value of this service to the local community. Together we often serve the same clients in Jesus’ name as we have so much in common. To know about the Parish Nurse in South Reading or to make a referral go to: Parish Nurse – Reading Gateway Church 

Inspired by this experience,  Torch was awarded funding in late 2024 to initiate the recruitment of a Parish Nurse to be based in the communities of Southcote and Coley Park in West Reading.  We are excited by this new development which will integrate and run alongside the current activities of Torch. 

The Nurse will also require a small team of dedicated volunteers to support this work, so if this is of interest to you or you know of anyone who might be interested, we would love to hear from them.  

What is a Parish Nurse? 

A Parish Nurse is a nurse registered by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), working under its Code of Conduct. Confidentiality is within the Code: anything said to the Parish Nurse is kept private unless you are being harmed or are harming someone else, or at risk of doing so.

The Parish Nurse is not employed by the NHS but by Torch and will work closely with local churches, charities and agencies. Importantly they will complement but not duplicate, services offered by existing NHS and social care agencies.

Torch will be undertaking this project in partnership with the national charity Parish Nursing Ministries UK, who will provide clinical supervision, training and support to ensure that the service is well run. See https://www.parishnursing.org.uk

Where and when will they work?

The service is available to anyone living within the designated areas of Coley Park and Southcote. These are areas of West Reading where significant deprivation and need has been identified in the local communities.

What does the Parish Nurse do? 

Parish Nurses work with people of all ages and backgrounds, with any faith or none, focusing on the person rather than just a medical condition, and integrating all the different aspects of health. Typically the care they offer might include:

  • Health screening and advice
  • Health promotion/education
  • Help with stress and anxiety
  • Health support for short or longterm illness
  • Medication advice
  • End of life support
  • Support/well-being groups
  • Home visits
  • Spiritual care including prayer, if wished
  • Referral to faith leaders as appropriate

The role complements, but does not replace, the NHS and other statutory services

The Parish Nurse is uniquely placed to be able to attend to the well-being of the ‘whole person’, irrespective of their faith, or no faith, their age, sex, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or ability. At Torch we believe that everyone is valued and accepted by God, and we want to demonstrate His love and hope to all.

Next Steps

To know more about Parish Nursing see: https://www.parishnursing.org.uk/ 

To register your interests to volunteer to support the Parish Nurse: click here

To donate to the work of Torch: https://torchhub.org.uk/donate/ 

With Thanks

We are grateful to those agencies, trusts and individuals that are helping to make this service possible through their generous funding and donations.