Abstract
The author calls attention to the need for special hospital areas, where patients, their relatives and personnel could take shelter in the difficult moments. The lack of a hospital chaplain service in many hospitals is highlighted, as well as the difficult situation for the medical staff who should diagnose spiritual needs of the patients (in the course of taking their medical history) and offer them spiritual care.
Attention is drawn to the fact that medical staff often assumes that spiritual care is aimed primarily at religious patients, and the paper emphasizes the need for staff education devoted to detecting the spiritual needs of the non-religious patients within the bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model of patient care. The hospital chaplain service that is being developed in some hospitals is described, demonstrating its importance for improving the well-being of hospitalised patients, their relatives as well of the staff.