If the Muslim doctors who have experienced discrimination at work left the NHS, it would cost an estimated £3.4 billion to replace them.
Every Muslim healthcare professional surveyed said that understanding a patient’s faith needs can improve their health outcomes, yet only 7% said the NHS consistently does it.
An estimated 44,500 NHS doctors are Muslim, part of the 89,000 Muslims working across NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards, contributing £1.5 billion a year in income tax.
The NHS is under strain, and creative solutions are needed to keep delivering excellent care at a justifiable cost. For millions of Britons, faith is central to identity, and therefore to their care. Yet the 10 Year Health Plan for England makes no mention of faith or religion. This report shows how faith literacy, understanding and accommodating the faith of patients and staff, can help the NHS deliver better health, greater trust and lower costs, for people of all faiths and none.
The report draws on interviews with healthcare practitioners and experts, and a survey of healthcare professionals run in partnership with the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA). It finds that every Muslim healthcare professional surveyed agreed that understanding a patient’s faith needs can improve their health outcomes, yet only 7% said the NHS consistently does it.
It sets out practical solutions for policymakers to help make a difference, documenting how faith-adapted therapies quadrupled recovery rates, how community-based outreach transformed screening uptake, and how the discrimination that puts the retention of Muslim staff at risk can be addressed.
“This report makes a compelling case for recognising faith literacy as an essential part of patient-centred, preventative and community-based healthcare. It is a timely contribution to the national conversation about the future of healthcare – one that policymakers, NHS leaders and community partners should take seriously.”
Dr Emma Runswick
Deputy Chair, British Medical Association (BMA) Council
Missed GP appointments cost the NHS approximately £570 million a year. Faith literacy is one of the keys to higher engagement with healthcare and higher rates of preventative care.
Nearly three quarters of Muslim staff surveyed said they are discriminated against because of their faith, with 19% saying it happens regularly. Over half believed their faith was a barrier to their career progression.
In Bradford, NHS therapy adapted for Muslim patients quadrupled recovery rates compared with conventional approaches. In Newham, it halved dropout rates in NHS Talking Therapies.
Case Study
In Peterborough, six local doctors each represent a major mosque in the city.
Launched in 2018 with the support of BIMA, Public Health Peterborough and the city council, the Mosque Health Champions Network brings preventative health outreach to communities in trusted spaces and in their own languages, covering everything from organ donation and dementia to childhood immunisations and CPR.
The results speak for themselves: uptake of bowel cancer screening at the lead doctor’s practice rose from 35% in 2018 to 80% in 2025. One woman who attended CPR training later used her new skills to save her sister’s life.
The network’s lead GP is now in talks with NHS commissioners about replicating the model across the country, and has offered to help Sikh and Hindu communities set up networks of their own.
When the health service meets people where they already are, we see prevention in practise.