Medical students of every faith: what you can now expect from your school on prayer, dress and religious dates, and why it matters

The BMA's Medical Students Committee has done some excellent work on this guidance with the faith medical organisations. A lot of it was already in NHS England's uniforms guidance, the GMC's placement standards and the Medical Schools Council's guidance to schools. But it is the first time it has been put together for students, with letters to send. Here's a summary of it.

On placement

• Your school tells the placement before you arrive. You can tell your medical school what you need to practise your faith. It should pass that on. You can ask it to confirm it has.
• You can see the uniform policy before you go. In England, turbans, kippot, veils and headscarves are permitted under NHS England's uniforms guidance, as long as patient care, infection control and safety aren't compromised. A cloth headscarf, such as a hijab, can be worn in theatre and washed at 60C. Every trust also has its own local policy. It doesn't always match the national one. Your school should get it for you. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, NHS England's guidance doesn't apply, so ask your school for the dress code of the place you're going.
• Bare below the elbows. Disposable over-sleeves where gloves are used, and disposable head coverings. Your school should tell you before you start how you get them on that placement.
• If you have a beard. Where a placement needs level 3 personal protective equipment, it should give you a respirator hood or a powered respirator. You shouldn't be asked to shave.
• Scrubs. If the scrubs you're given are thin, see-through or the wrong size, tell your supervisor. Your school is responsible for making sure the provider gives you proper ones.
• Prayer breaks and a clean, private space. The GMC's placement standards say providers should give students facilities to observe their faith. That includes breaks.

In teaching and exams

• Prayer during teaching. Recorded lectures, or swapping teaching groups or placement times. The Medical Schools Council says this is harder for some kinds of teaching.
• Jummah. You can ask your school to block out Friday 1 to 2pm as a permanent arrangement, worked out with you and other Muslim students.
• Shabbat and festivals. The same permanent arrangement for Jewish students. That includes leaving early on winter Fridays.
• Ramadan. The Medical Schools Council recommends flexibility during fasting, and mitigating circumstances where they're needed.
• Religious dates and exams. You can ask for timetable changes, exams included. The BMA is asking schools to move the date, set a new paper, or let you sit the same paper later under quarantine.
• Attendance. The BMA is asking schools to say plainly that observance-related absence won't be penalised. It also wants you to be able to make up time if it drops you below the minimum.

In clinical skills

You can decline to be examined by other students or by staff. You can take part without undressing. The refusal should be accepted without question. You'll still need to learn to examine patients of every gender.

When it goes wrong

Write it down as soon as you can: date, time, names, witnesses. Report it through your school. If your school has an anonymous route, you can use that. On placement, raise it with your clinical supervisor and tell your school. If the supervisor's answer isn't good enough, your school can escalate it with the provider. Abuse from patients counts too. The placement should tell you at the start what to do if it happens. The guidance ends with 2 template letters. One is to a placement supervisor about dress. The other is to your school about prayer breaks.

What your school is being asked to change

The BMA's 3 calls ask medical schools for things a student can't arrange alone:

• Training for staff on faith inclusivity.
• A clear way to report faith-related discrimination.
• Students' accommodation requests recorded, with their consent, so they have less admin to do.
• Religious dates tracked and planned for ahead of time.
• Social events that don't all involve alcohol.
• Food on placement that meets faith requirements.

Why your medical school has to accommodate your faith

Religion and belief is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, and Northern Ireland's own equality law covers religious belief too. The GMC requires medical schools to anticipate students' needs rather than react to them. The Medical Schools Council told schools in 2023 that prayer space, flexible dress codes and religious holiday leave are essential for student wellbeing.

Why it's bigger than a guidance document

There are no numbers in the guidance. In the BMA's own racism in medicine survey, published in 2022, 2,030 doctors and medical students answered. 3 in 10 said the racism they had experienced was linked to their religion. The comments are about prayer rooms, headscarves and beards. 7 in 10 respondents named a religion.

So this affects careers, not just how people feel at work. In a 2021 survey of 104 Muslim doctors, 44% had faced regular discrimination since medical school. 69% struggled to pray at work. Students who put up with it on placement go on to put up with it as doctors. Medical schools can change this more easily than anyone. They choose which placement providers they work with. The 3 calls above cost a school a policy, a training session and a list of dates.