THE decision of Worcestershire hospitals' League of Friends to fund a chaplain could fall foul of Charity Commission rules, it has been claimed.

The president of the College of Health Care Chaplains (CHCC) has written to the commission asking him to examine the decision of the Friends groups of Worcestershire Royal Hospital, the Alexandra in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital to pay for a full-time chaplain until 2008.

Worcestershire Acute Hopitals Trust, which runs the hospitals, proposed in August to make six of the seven chaplains redundant to save £100,000 - but the latest decision means two full-time chaplains have been saved.

One will be funded by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, and the other by the Friends.

In his letter to Andrew Hind, Rev Dr Christopher Swift said: "It is well established that chaplaincies are a part of the health service and are funded out of the public purse."

Trust chairman Michael O'Riordan, who negotiated the agreement personally with Friends groups and senior church leaders, said: "I am amazed and disappointed that organisations like the College of Health Care Chaplains should try to set aside a local agreement which protects the jobs of some of their members.

"If their efforts to derail this settlement succeed, we will be left with no option but to revert to our original plan which will mean a single chaplain covering all three of our sites.