A HOSPITAL chaplain who helps people come to terms with the trauma caused by road accidents, will be speaking at this weekend's RoadPeace Service of Remembrance.

Rev Ian Scott, who has special responsibility for Kidderminster Hospital as a member of the chaplaincy team at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Most of us know someone who has been involved in a road traffic accident. All too often the consequences can be tragic and last a lifetime.

"It is, of course, not only those who are injured ,or worse, killed, who suffer, but also those who are uninjured, at least physically."

He added: "Others who are caught up in the trauma surrounding accidents include family members, other drivers, witnesses and even passers-by.

"The mental and emotional scars sustained can take a very long time to heal."

Eight people have died on Wyre Forest roads in the last 12 months, bringing the total to 20 in the last two years.

Rev Scott has been a health chaplain for eight years, previously working at Warwick and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

He will give the address at Sunday's annual RoadPeace service at Kidderminster's St Ambrose Church when Wyre Forest road victims will be remembered.

The evening, which starts at 6.30pm, is open to all those who have lost relatives or friends on the roads.

Joining them will be professionals touched by such tragedies as part of their working lives.

They include members of the ambulance, fire, police and hospital services, the media and clergy, who will offer prayers for victims as part of the service.

The role of health chaplains includes trying to meet the needs of those devastated by the loss of loved ones in road accidents or who have been affected by a traumatic experience on our roads.

Mr Scott said: "Not many of us would claim to have special talents in this respect.

"The needs of these victims, using the word in its broadest sense, stem from the frailness implicit in their own humanity.

"It's precisely because they are human that they are so traumatised, and we can, accordingly, reach out to them from the depths of our own human experience."

He added: "The Christian belief that we are all made in the image of God means that he, too, is caught up in the midst of our suffering. He identifies with us, and through him we may dare look to the future with hope."

RoadPeace, the national charity for road victims, supports the bereaved and campaigns for safer driving, raising awareness of the widespread effects road accidents have on a community.

The service will be led by parish priest, Father Douglas Lamb, and former Kidderminster Hospital chaplain, Rev Paul Brothwell, who will read out the names of Wyre Forest victims during their prayers.