Does the NHS understand the faith of the people it cares for?

Faith can shape how someone understands illness, the treatment they are comfortable receiving, what they eat, when they fast, how they approach death and dying and what matters to them during some of the most vulnerable moments of their life. Yet new research suggests healthcare professionals do not always feel equipped to understand those needs.

A new report examining faith literacy in the NHS argues that greater understanding of religion and belief could improve patient care, strengthen trust and better support healthcare staff. It raises a wider question for a health service committed to providing person-centred care: can we truly understand the person if an important part of their identity is overlooked?

The report, Faith in the NHS: Better Health, Greater Trust, Lower Costs, was produced by think tank Equi in collaboration with the British Islamic Medical Association. It draws on 31 in-depth interviews with healthcare practitioners and health inequalities experts, alongside a small survey carried out by BIMA involving 54 Muslim healthcare staff.

Every healthcare professional surveyed believed understanding a patient’s faith needs could help improve health outcomes. However, just two respondents said they felt fully equipped with the training and knowledge required to meet patients’ faith-related needs.

The findings do not suggest healthcare professionals should become experts in every religion or make assumptions about people based on their faith. Instead, the argument is that staff should have sufficient awareness to ask appropriate questions and recognise when religious beliefs or practices could be relevant to someone’s care.

That can become particularly important when patients are making decisions about treatment or approaching the end of their lives. Religious beliefs can influence practices surrounding death, the involvement of family, requirements for privacy and the timing and nature of rituals after somebody dies. Understanding those needs can therefore become part of providing compassionate and individualised care.

Faith can also affect much more routine healthcare. Fasting may influence when somebody wants or is able to take medication, for example, while requirements around modesty can affect how comfortable a patient feels during an examination. For some people faith may also influence how they understand illness, recovery and the choices available to them.

None of those beliefs will apply universally to people who identify with a particular religion. Two patients who describe themselves as belonging to the same faith may have completely different needs and preferences. Faith literacy is therefore not about replacing individual conversations with a checklist of religious practices; it is about ensuring those conversations happen.

The research also raises concerns about the experiences of NHS staff themselves. Around three-quarters of the Muslim healthcare professionals surveyed said they occasionally or regularly experienced discrimination because of their faith, while the report also identifies concerns about whether religious needs are adequately supported in the workplace.

That distinction between race, ethnicity and faith is important. A workplace can become more ethnically diverse without necessarily becoming more knowledgeable or inclusive when it comes to religion and belief. Staff may experience difficulties connected specifically to religious expression even within organisations that have made progress in other areas of equality and inclusion.

The report does identify examples of healthcare organisations working to improve this. Faith networks representing different religions have developed across the NHS, while initiatives involving prayer facilities, dietary requirements and chaplaincy can help patients and staff practise their faith within healthcare environments.

However, the authors argue that faith literacy needs to move beyond individual initiatives and become more consistently embedded across the health service. Recommendations include considering faith as part of patient assessments, improving data to identify inequalities connected to religion, providing more consistent support for staff and strengthening partnerships between the NHS and faith organisations.

While the research has a particular focus on Muslim experiences, the underlying issue extends beyond one religion. Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and people belonging to other faith communities may all have beliefs or practices that become relevant when receiving healthcare. Equally, people with no religious belief should have their own values and preferences understood and respected.

There is an important balance to maintain. Healthcare must remain evidence based, and recognising someone’s religious beliefs does not mean those beliefs determine clinical decisions. But listening to what matters to a patient can help professionals explain options, identify concerns and work with that person to provide care they can understand and trust.

For a health service caring for an increasingly diverse population, cultural and faith literacy cannot simply mean knowing a list of religious customs. It means having the confidence to recognise that faith may matter, the curiosity to ask rather than assume and the willingness to listen to the answer.

Person-centred care is ultimately based on a simple principle: patients are more than their diagnosis. For millions of people, faith forms part of who they are. If the NHS wants to understand the people it cares for, the new research suggests it cannot afford to leave that part of the person outside the consultation room.

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