Interested in the role of Parish Nurse?
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, we are pleased to announce that Torch has been awarded funding to initiate the recruitment of another Parish Nurse to be based in the communities of Southcote and Coley 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.
A Parish Nurse will have gained experience working within the National Health Service, the community and / or private practice. The Parish Nurse is not employed by the NHS but by Torch Help Hub 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.
Where and when will they work?
We are hoping to make the service available from Spring 2025 to anyone living or working within the designated areas of Coley and Southcote, where significant deprivation and need has been identified in the local communities.
As our focus will be on two adjacent but separate communities, the role may suit one Parish Nurse over four days a week or a job share between two nurses working as a team over two days each.
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 a Parish Nurse can:
- Provide advocacy and moral support.
- Provide general health advice and education.
- ‘Signpost’ people to other support or medical services.
- Offer spiritual care and to pray for people when requested.
- Clarify medical procedures or issues.
- Simply listen (which they do an awful lot of!)
- Provide specialist health promotion classes.
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.