Bishop in House of Lords debate on hospices

The Rt Revd Christopher Herbert, Bishop of St Albans, has spoken in a debate at the House of Lords on a draft Bill to promote the provision of support services to people with terminal illnesses and their families (palliative care). This type of care is provided currently mainly through hospices. Bishop Christopher called for hospices to have a greater say in the development of government strategy and for representation from the fields of religion and spirituality.

In welcoming the Palliative Care Bill during its Second Reading, Bishop Christopher said, “ The Bill is so important because it will deeply affect our entire nation. Each human being has absolute worth and value, and must therefore be treated with compassion, respect and love.” The way that we treat the dying, said the Bishop, is a reflection on how society treats itself, adding “we cannot talk of palliative care being adequate or good if it does not take seriously the spiritual and religious needs of each one of us.”

Describing the title of the Government’s policy, the End-of-Life Strategy Group, as Orwellian, the Bishop asked why spiritual care was absent from consideration and that the language appeared to be mechanistic. Bishop Christopher said, “can someone please tell me why the word “spirituality” is not mentioned in a strategy devoted to improving palliative care? Language is always significant, and if we use only mechanistic language to shape our thinking about palliative care, we shall end up treating human beings like robots.”

Bishop Christopher is a patron to the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted, the Isabel in Welwyn Garden City, the Peace Hospice in Watford and the Pasque Hospice in Streatley, Luton.

The Health Minister, Lord Hunt, said that he would consider the issue of spiritual care to see “whether we can strengthen the ways in which the churches, religions and faiths in general can make a contribution.”