New report from think tank Equi finds NHS ignoring faith could be costing billions and harming patients and staff

A new report from Muslim think tank Equi, supported by the British Islamic Medical Association, has suggested that the NHS could deliver better health, greater trust and lower costs by taking into account the faith of patients and staff across its services.

The new report, ‘Faith in the NHS: Better Health, Greater Trust, Lower Costs’, warns that the UK healthcare system is not doing enough to take into account the faith of patients and staff, despite it improving health outcomes. This lack of “faith literacy” across the health service is harming patient outcomes, said Equi’s MD  Professor Javed Khan. “It risks driving away staff and costs the NHS billions of pounds”.

The report calls on the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure all healthcare services take  account the faith of patients in their assessments, standardise faith-literate support for staff across trusts, work with faith-based voluntary groups, and ensure all healthcare services collect data on the faith of patients to understand inequalities and obstacles to access.