ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on research carried out in nine NHS (National Health Service) acute hospitals situated in the north east of England. The project was funded by NHS Estates and focused on the material culture of chaplaincies, on chaplaincies as places. Ethical approval for the study was provided both by the NHS and Durham University. Since the creation of the British National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, acute hospitals have been expected to attend to the religious and spiritual needs of their patients. The roots of chaplaincy in hospitals are Christian and managed in most cases by an Anglican priest. The chapter presents the classification and preliminary analysis of over 3,000 prayer request (PRs) collected from the chapels of two hospitals within the South Tees Acute Hospitals Trust between 1995 and 2006. It focuses on the chaplaincy at JCUH, the James Cook University Hospital, a large hospital situated in the suburbs of Middlesbrough.
