MULTI-FAITH NHS STAFF RESOURCE

I'm at the Towers, Gypsy Lane, this afternoon for a meeting with Abida Hussain, Equality & Human Rights Officer, Integrated Equality Service of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. We're finalising copy and layout for the Multi-Faith Staff Resource (aka The Task That Wouldn't Die).

Here's an extract from the introduction to the resource, which will give an idea of its purpose:

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are religiously and culturally diverse. This multi-faith pack has been designed with the intention of assisting and preparing NHS healthcare staff to address some of the needs of patients and service users in their care. This multi-faith pack has information and guidance regarding cultural and religious practices so that patient care can be given with knowledge and sensitivity. 

A person’s religion and belief will be central to their well-being and will have a direct effect on their needs, their behaviour and quite often on their attitude to being ill. At a time of illness and being in hospital or in a care setting, a patient or service user may receive a lot of comfort from their faith and the opportunity to practise it. Patients and their relatives will appreciate their culture and religious belief being respected. This will help them feel valued at a difficult time for them. 

This multi-faith pack is offered to staff to help achieve the quality of patient care required by Standards for Better Health. The Equality Act 2010 also makes it unlawful for a person to discriminate against a person on grounds of their religion or belief when providing goods, facilities or services (whether for payment or not). These provisions cover both direct and indirect discrimination. 

This is only a guide; there is very wide variation in belief and practice. 

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust has a Spiritual and Pastoral Care team staffed by a chaplaincy team, who are a good source of knowledge and experience on how to serve the needs of a multi-faith population. Often the chaplaincy will be the first place people call when seeking advice or help in finding the right care. Chaplaincy teams help to facilitate spiritual or religious care for all.

When in doubt – ask the patient 

You can resolve many of the issues by simply asking the patient, or their visitors, how they wish to be looked after. 

This pack has tried to cover the majority of Leicester’s, Leicestershire’s and Rutland’s communities of religion or belief and the relevant issues. Therefore it is essential to talk to the patient about their health needs. All NHS services should offer access to interpreting services and it is essential to use these services when a patient has difficulty communicating their needs. 

If you are aware that a person belongs to a community or group that identifies with a religion or belief, then you should be able to use this pack to deal with the main areas which may be relevant.
The following communities of religion or belief covered in this document:

• Bahá'ís
• Buddhists
• Christians
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons)
• Hindus
• Humanists
• Jains
• Jews
• Muslims
• Pagans
• Rastafarians
• Sikhs
• Spiritualists

This pack provides the following information in the same order, for each of the faith communities listed above:

• Introduction and local information
• Mode of greeting
• Birth
• Examination of patient
• Particular sensitivities
• Washing, ablutions and personal hygiene
• Modesty and dress
• Special dietary requirements
• Fasting
• Family planning
• Abortion
• Care in serious (or final stages of) illness
• Blood transfusion / transplants
• Organ donation
• Spiritual advisor / counsellor
• Death
• Religious symbols
• Post mortem
• Burial / cremation
• General considerations for community nurses visiting patients at home

I'm going to be fiddling with this and filling in the few remaining gaps for some of the sections over the weekend, so it might look a little different by Monday morning. And that's the final deadline, so it will be the last bit of fiddling!

We're planning a few induction sessions for staff members on the content, purpose and use of this resource. They'll be taking place during Inter Faith Week (if we stick to our schedule).