IF someone at Kemp needs a listening ear there is usually one to be found in the form of a member of the hospice's chaplaincy team.

Rev Bob Murrin, 62, has been team leader for eight years. He said: "Really, chaplains are responsible for the spiritual well-being of everyone who either volunteers or works at Kemp."

It would be fair to describe the team of seven as a broad church, as its membership covers various denominations, including Anglicans, Methodists and a Roman Catholic.

The support service, despite its religious flavour, is not exclusive to or necessarily aimed at believers of particular faiths. Its remit is wider than that, perhaps to a surprising degree.

"It's incredibly varied," said Mr Murrin, recounting a conversation he had with an atheist in which they talked "quite happily around the issue of faith, belief and lifestyle".

He added: "We're very involved pastorally, which includes listening. We're very much in the listening role."

It is not just about patients, either. "It's actually about 50 per cent patients and about 50 per cent staff, so our work is balanced between listening to patients and understanding staff needs as well," said Mr Murrin.

"There is a lot of stress and strain in terms of pressure looking after terminally ill people. In the chaplaincy team that's part of our work. We're always available.

"Another thing we find is that time is a very valuable resource and we always find time for people, whatever function they have in the running of the hospice."

Mr Murrin is an Anglican priest and his devotion to his work at Kemp is illustrated by the fact he makes a 100-mile round trip from his Herefordshire home to the hospice.

The challenge makes the effort worthwhile.

"We're called upon, very often, to think of ideas that can either inspire or uplift patients and that can involve us," he explained.

"For example, I was called upon, just before Christmas, to write the staff pantomime. That was a great success."

He went on: "Somebody asked if I could find a lady who played the harp to come and play in the afternoon.

"It's an incredibly fulfilling job. The actual spiritual uplift you get yourself from being chaplain is very hard to describe."