Faith

Bessie was 83, dying of lung cancer and had no relatives.

I was in the bed opposite, admitted over night with suspected appendicitis. There was no room in the general ward, so they found a bed in the geriatric section.

Clare Catford

It was a mad, sad place, but I learned more there in 24 hours, than I did in three years at college.

Bessie asked me for a fag in the middle of the night; she was wired up to an oxygen cylinder.

I couldn't give her a cigarette; so instead, I ambled over to her bed and read out an article from a dog eared old Cosmo magazine about the 10 best tips for keeping your sex life going.

After tip number three, Bessie winked and said "Margate". She had clearly had a happy experience there, and I was glad for her.

The next day the hospital chaplain appeared and held her hand. Neither said much, but Bessie smiled weakly and seemed glad to have the company.

The Chaplain stayed until she went to sleep. She didn't wake up.

I only found out that Bessie had died when I went back the next week to visit.

I dropped my flowers in the middle of the ward when I saw the empty bed and a nurse gave me a cup of tea with three sugars. 

Royal Berks Chaplain Michael Sserunkuma

'Churches and religious organisations should fund their own presence in hospitals', says the National Secular Society (NSS), after it discovered that chaplaincy services are costing the National Health Service more than £32million.

Does everything have to come at a price? And is the National Secular Society's agenda the right one?

Talk to Michael Sserunkuma, Chaplain at the Royal Berks, and any of his colleagues and you will hear story after story of how they support and care for the vulnerable, the lonely and the sick; without a religious agenda.

This recent  NSS campaign prompted calls on my programme about what hospital chaplains mean to you. 

In the words of one Berkshire woman "he held my hand, I was glad he was there".

Her reaction was echoed by thousands of others who called local and national BBC radio to support the role of hospital chaplains, funded by the NHS.

I believe that God meets us wherever we are, and that these men and women of God (whatever their faith) are a way of communicating that in the most practical and appropriate way.

I would be sad to see them go because the NHS decided that their pastoral skills were no longer worth paying for.

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