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Critical Care – Delivering Spiritual Care in Health Care Contexts

Reviewed by William Ruddle.

For those involved in providing spiritual care within the NHS in the UK, this is an invaluable book – clear, well written and structured, and with impeccable bibliography and further resources to aid study. If you are studying for an MA in this field, I suspect this will be required reading before the semester is over. However, for the average minister making occasional visits to hospitals, and who is the intended audience of Ministry Today, this book is far too narrowly focused to make it worth the time and the effort.  Professor Robinson of Leeds Beckett University argues on the cover that not only is this book relevant to the hospital chaplaincy profession, but that it is a major contribution to the provision of care in any context. I beg to differ. It is simply not accessible enough for the non-specialist.