Healing Process policy suite

Religion, Belief and Cultural Inclusion Policy

1. Purpose

To respect religion, non-religious belief and cultural practice while ensuring that digital communication and care workflows remain clinically safe, lawful and person-centred.

2. Scope and status

This policy applies to product design, image capture, appointments, messaging, research, workforce conduct, support and provider deployments. It does not replace a provider’s spiritual care, chaplaincy, consent, safeguarding, infection-control or clinical policies.

Core supplier and product policy

3. Policy principles

• People are entitled to respectful treatment whether they follow a religion, hold another protected belief or hold no religion or belief.
• The service will not assume beliefs from a person’s name, appearance, language, dress or community.
• Reasonable accommodation should be considered, but no digital setting can override clinical urgency, safeguarding, infection prevention, law or the rights and safety of others.
• Questions about belief or culture are asked only when relevant to communication, care preferences, scheduling, privacy, consent or support.

4. Mandatory requirements

• Provide optional fields or notes for relevant requirements, with clear purpose and access control; avoid mandatory declarations unrelated to the pathway.
• Support privacy preferences for photography, body exposure and clinician interaction through the provider’s practical arrangements.
• Where fasting, prayer, holy days, diet, dress, modesty or family involvement may affect the pathway, staff should ask respectfully rather than assume and should seek appropriate professional advice when clinical risk is involved.
• Use trained interpreters rather than relatives for significant clinical communication, while respecting a person’s wish for family support where safe and appropriate.
• Do not permit proselytising, disparagement of belief, religious harassment or pressure to disclose beliefs in product or support interactions.
• Training examples and imagery should represent diverse users without stereotyping or tokenism.
• Offer an escalation route to the provider’s equality, spiritual care, chaplaincy or patient-advice service where a need cannot be resolved in the digital workflow.

5. Procedure and escalation

• At enrolment or review, the person may identify a relevant requirement. Staff record only what is necessary and the action agreed.
• Where an accommodation request may affect safety or service capacity, the clinician or service owner discusses options, records the rationale and provides an alternative where reasonably possible.
• Disputes or alleged discrimination are handled through the complaint process and escalated as a safety or safeguarding matter where appropriate.

6. Roles and responsibilities

Equality Lead

maintains guidance and reviews concerns and representation.

Product team

avoids assumptions and supports optional, purposeful preference recording.

Clinical/service teams

balance individual preference with safety and document decisions.

Managers

prevent harassment and provide appropriate staff training.

Users

communicate respectfully and do not use messaging to pressure or disparage others.

7. Records, confidentiality and retention

Retain relevant preference/action records in the appropriate care or support record, plus equality assessments, complaints, decisions, training and corrective action.

Records created under this policy must be accurate, attributable, access-controlled and linked to the applicable retention schedule. Where a provider is the controller or authoritative record holder, its documented instructions and legal duties apply.

8. Monitoring, assurance and review

Review annually and after material concerns. Monitor complaints, unmet accommodation requests, service access and user research representation without collecting unnecessary belief data.

Material non-compliance is reported through the relevant clinical-safety, patient-safety, data, security, safeguarding, HR, contractual or whistleblowing route. Corrective actions receive an owner, target date and effectiveness check.

9. Training and communication

The policy owner identifies which roles require awareness, operational or specialist training. Training is accessible, version-controlled, role-specific and refreshed after material change or evidence that understanding is inadequate. Providers communicate local procedures and contact routes before users are granted access.

10. Related documents

• Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights Policy
• English as an Additional Language Policy
• Acceptable Use and Professional Conduct Policy

11. Approval record