Spirituality in the Primary Care Setting

This chapter introduces spirituality in primary care from the perspective of primary care practitioners. It presents some of the issues facing those working in primary care and the importance of holistic approaches to care. The chapter reviews the current evidence concerning spirituality in primary care and focuses on how to operationalise spirituality in this setting. By introducing new roles and acknowledging the skills needed to deliver health care in the 21st century, primary care could encompass the bio-psycho-spiritual model. Primary care offers opportunities to provide spiritually competent care. Melanie's framework for providing spirituality competent practice, based on availability and vulnerability, has transferability for all primary care practitioners. Practitioners have to connect on a human level to reach out to another person and be able to understand their spiritual care needs. The community chaplaincy national programme has implemented the health care chaplaincy training and development unit of NHS education for Scotland to standardise the training for chaplains employed in primary care.