Bishop visits the sick
Bishop Alan blesses baby Mason who has been unwell.
The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Smith visited Watford General Hospital to meet staff and patients at the hospital on Thursday 4th September as part of a series of visits around Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire in the run up to taking up his post on 19th September. The visit to Watford General is his first in Hertfordshire.
One of the roles of the bishop of a diocese in the Church of England is to exercise care for the whole population. By choosing venues for his first visits where the more vulnerable, sick or weaker members of society are to be found, Bishop Alan is demonstrating Christians’ special concern and care for those people.
Speaking to hospital staff he said: “We’re both in the same business – caring for people – in different ways – but both important. Of course, there are 300 hospital chaplains in the C of E and NHS staff value their presence at patients’ bedsides just as I want to value the other caring professions by being here today.”
Representatives from the places he visits will be invited to take on a small, special role in Bishop Alan’s service of inauguration on 19th September and to affirm the role of those who care for the sick as of enormous value to society.
There are also 300 hospital and healthcare chaplains in the Church of England and spiritual care for patients at Watford General is exercised by a team of Chaplains under a spiritual care manager, Revd Doug Loveridge.
