The Revd Ruth Fitter, Lead Chaplain at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been appointed as the Diocese of Oxford's new Chaplaincy Health Adviser.
Alongside her diocesan responsibilities, Ruth leads chaplaincy across the Trust, supporting patients, families and staff through some of life's most difficult moments. Before moving into healthcare chaplaincy four and a half years ago, she spent 11 years in parish ministry in the Diocese of Gloucester. Prior to ordination, she worked as both a primary school teacher and a social worker.
Reflecting on her journey to ordained ministry, Ruth laughs that it was not always part of her plans.
"My mum is also a priest, and she was one of the first women to be ordained. I kind of thought I'd done a deal with God that I was not going to go anywhere near ordination because that didn't look like a fun thing for a woman. But apparently not!”
Although she now follows in her mother's footsteps, Ruth says their journeys were very different. "Her journey of getting there was more about that women couldn't be ordained rather than my journey which was no way, I am not going to do this. Go away!"
The path that eventually led Ruth into healthcare chaplaincy began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she became seriously ill and spent ten days in hospital.
"There was one particular day where the doctors came and said, your infection markers are not going in the right direction, we need to potentially move you to intensive care this afternoon."
Facing an uncertain future, Ruth remembers a profound experience of God.
"I remember sitting in the bed and saying to God, right, OK, well, it's over to you now. And I had this experience of God, which I still find very difficult to describe without crying. All I can describe it as is a warmth and colour. And in that experience was the sense of God saying that there's something new and I need you to step into this, are you willing to step into this?"
As Ruth recovered, that sense of a new calling remained. A period of prayer and discernment eventually led her to apply for a chaplaincy role at Oxford University Hospitals. During a 30-day silent retreat, she repeatedly sensed that whatever God was calling her to would involve women and children.
"I kept going to my spiritual guide each morning and saying, I think I probably need to leave the church. I need to go and work for Tearfund or Oxfam or something. It's something with women and children, but I can't see what."
After being appointed, Ruth discovered she would become the link chaplain for the Women's Centre, supporting women and families through maternity care, neonatal care and bereavement. She felt she’d finally found where she was “meant to be."
Today, Ruth leads a team providing chaplaincy support across the Trust's hospitals. While there are daily rhythms, she says no two days are ever the same. As referrals arrive from wards across the hospitals, priorities can change instantly.
The role can be emotionally demanding. Chaplains often support families through trauma, sudden loss and life-changing diagnoses, while also caring for NHS staff.
"We talk a lot about chaplains as being the non-anxious presence in the room. But actually, internally, my body is still going through all the physiological changes. My adrenaline is running. I can't fight, and I can't flight. I have to stay."
For Ruth, that makes prayer and spiritual practices essential.
"We cannot do this in our own strength. We can only do this in the strength of God."
Despite regularly encountering difficult questions about suffering and loss, she says her faith has become stronger during her time in chaplaincy.
"I would have expected my faith to perhaps fragment and be more brittle. And actually, it's deeper, stronger and wider."
One of the biggest surprises has been the openness she encounters from patients and families.
"The media, for instance, would have us believe that people are not interested. And it's the opposite. It really is the opposite."
"It is remarkable how people who are non-religious will want to have those conversations."
As Chaplaincy Health Adviser, Ruth will help strengthen connections between healthcare chaplaincy and the wider Church, ensuring the ministry taking place in hospitals is recognised and understood.
Explaining the distinctive nature of chaplaincy, she says:
"I don't have a building. I don't have an altar. I don't have a congregation. My granddaughter says, 'Right, okay, so you're the vicar for the hospital, Grandma.' The John Radcliffe is my parish. The Trust is my deanery, if you like. These are my flock."
She hopes the role will help chaplaincy be both seen and heard within the wider Church.
"We sit very much on the edge. And that's a good place to be. We need people on the edge. But connecting into the centre is really important as well."
Ruth is also keen to encourage churches and clergy to make use of local chaplaincy teams when members of their congregations are admitted to hospital.
"If you have a member of your congregation in the hospital, contact us and we'll go and visit them for you. I know they will want their vicar. But we can be a support alongside you."
She is equally passionate about helping people understand what chaplaincy is - and what it is not.
"Often people think, well, I don't need to see the chaplain because I'm not dying. We're not just here for death. We're here for life. Sometimes we get called the death squad. And we like to re-entitle ourselves the hope squad."
For Ruth, chaplaincy is ultimately about accompanying people through whatever they face.
"We're not here to convert anybody or judge anybody. We're just here to be alongside people. It doesn't matter if you've been in the church every week for the last 40 years, or whether you've never been in, or whether you've been in a mosque or a temple or a synagogue."
"We're here for whatever you're going through at this time."