SIKHS HOLD A DAY OF PRAYER

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Sikhs hold a day of prayer

A prayer day was celebrated by the Sikh chaplaincy at a hospital.

The prayers were said at Leicester General Hospital to commemorate the forthcoming Guru Nanak Dev Ji – birthday of the first Sikh guru – for the good health of all patients as well staff at the city's hospitals.

The event was organised by Sulakhan Singh Dard, volunteer Sikh chaplain at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

It was attended by representatives from Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Guru Amerdas Gurdwara, Ramgaria Gurdwara and other Sikhs from the hospitals' chaplaincy.

NHS STAFF BRIEFINGS AT CLARENDON & COLEMAN WARDS, EVINGTON CENTRE

At the Evington Centre, Leicester General Hospital this afternoon, promoting the NHS Staff Multi-Faith Resource that Leicester Council of Faiths has helped produce for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT).

I'm here with Abida Hussain, Equalities and Human Rights Officer in LPT's Integrated Equality Service, as we continue the process of briefing members of LPT staff most likely to use this resource.

We’re here specifically to meet staff on Clarendon Ward and Coleman Ward, our visits timed to coincide with briefing points when handing over shifts, so we can speak to both incoming and outgoing staff members.

The Evington Centre provides care to older people with long term mental health needs. Clarendon Ward has historically served people in the county, while Coleman Ward has performed the same function for people in the city.

We have further visits to this venue scheduled for later in the week, but other wards have been closed to visitors because of an outbreak of D&V (figure it out, faithful reader). So we'll need to check if those visits can still go ahead on the day.

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011, DAY 3: NHS STAFF MULTI-FAITH RESOURCE BRIEFING AT BRANDON MENTAL HEALTH UNIT

At the Brandon Unit, Leicester General Hospital this afternoon, promoting the NHS Staff Multi-Faith Resource that Leicester Council of Faiths has helped produce for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT).

I'm here with Abida Hussain (photo above), Equalities and Human Rights Officer in LPT's Integrated Equality Service and Revd. Sally Martin, Lead Chaplain of LPT's Spiritual and Pastoral Care Team, as we start the process of briefing members of LPT staff most likely to use this resource.

This is the first of three lunchtime briefings this week which we (and LPT) are counting as part of our respective activities for Inter Faith Week.

BRANDON UNIT

I receive a phone call this morning from a member of staff at the Brandon Mental Health Unit at Leicester General Hospital. She's calling to ask where they could obtain a multi-faith wall calendar. We don't produce one ourselves, though it's one possible project for our 25th anniversary next year. I recommend that she get hold of the calendar produced by Bradford District Faiths Forum.

While I have her ear, I recommend that the Brandon Unit become involved with the East Midlands Network on Spirituality and Mental Health. There's not much active representation from Leicester and Leicestershire on this network and we need to take every opportunity to promote it. She tells me that the unit has a weekly spiritual care team meeting and that she’ll ensure this matter is raised at the next one.

Photo above: an Eid display at the Brandon Unit, made by service users there.