NHS urged to strengthen partnerships with churches and faith groups

Faith groups across England are recognised as a serious but underused resource in improving public health, based on a recent report that calls for stronger partnerships between the NHS and native religious organisations.

The report was produced by the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) and the Good Faith Partnership following a December 2025 roundtable involving 35 NHS leaders, local government representatives, and senior figures from faith organisations. 

It argues that faith groups are already providing significant frontline support in areas affected by deprivation, loneliness and poor mental health – issues which are often not solved through medicine alone – but remain insufficiently integrated into formal healthcare systems.

Social prescribing – which connects patients to non-medical community support akin to counselling, social groups, debt advice or practical care – has turn out to be an increasing focus inside NHS policy in recent times and is meant to enhance wellbeing while reducing pressure on NHS services. 

Since 2019, social prescribing schemes have connected over 5.5 million individuals with community-based support services.

The report describes faith communities as “trusted anchor institutions” due to their long-standing local presence, volunteer networks, physical infrastructure, and relationships of trust inside neighbourhoods.

NASP noted that over half of individuals in England and Wales discover with a faith, while faith observance is commonly strongest in areas experiencing higher deprivation and health inequalities. 

One participant described faith organisations as remaining committed to communities long after funding disappears, saying: “They’re here from heart conviction somewhat than money incentives.”

Christian organisations feature prominently throughout the report. 

Broadmead Community Church in Northampton was highlighted for bringing together social prescribing link staff, police, GPs, public health leaders and native faith groups to coordinate neighbourhood support. 

The report also pointed to the NHS-funded Night Light Café network in Lincolnshire, organised by Christian charity Acts Trust, which provides out-of-hours mental health support through church venues each day of the week. 

Assessments of the programme indicated that each £1 invested generated mental health advantages valued at around seven times that quantity.

Another initiative mentioned was the Gather Movement, which works with churches to map wellbeing projects and help healthcare providers connect patients with local support services.

Participants argued that faith communities often address points of wellbeing that clinical services alone cannot provide, including belonging, hope, meaning and spiritual care.

One individual quoted within the report said that faith groups “trade in hope, positivity, compassion, and benevolence,” adding that these qualities can significantly profit mental and social wellbeing. 

The report also proposed expanding the role of chaplaincy outside of hospitals through neighbourhood-based spiritual care partnerships linking churches and faith communities with statutory health services. 

Covid-19 was repeatedly cited as a time of successful collaboration between healthcare systems and faith groups. 

The report noted that churches and other places of worship hosted vaccine clinics, distributed food, provided mental health support and helped counter vaccine hesitancy inside local communities. 

Despite these examples, the report identified several barriers stopping stronger partnerships.

These included poor awareness throughout the NHS of local faith-based services, limited understanding of spiritual care, volunteer burnout, fragmented local coordination, difficult funding structures, and what some participants described as “transactional” relationships through which faith organisations are treated as temporary delivery partners somewhat than equal stakeholders. 

The report also warned against treating religious communities as a single homogeneous “faith sector,” stressing the importance of recognising theological, cultural and organisational differences between and inside traditions. 

Among its recommendations, the report urged health leaders to involve faith communities in neighbourhood health planning from the earliest stages somewhat than bringing them in later as external partners. 

It also called for clearer referral systems between healthcare providers and native faith organisations, improved faith literacy training for NHS staff, and more sustainable long-term funding arrangements as a substitute of counting on short-term pilot projects. 

In addition, the report emphasised the importance of constructing stronger local relationships between social prescribing link staff and faith groups.

It also backed proposals for a £1 billion National Community Health and Wellbeing Fund designed to support long-term partnerships between healthcare systems and community organisations, including churches and faith groups. 

Professor Sir Sam Everington, NHS England board member and Provost of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said faith groups were already deeply embedded inside communities experiencing the best health inequalities.

“If we’re serious about prevention and neighbourhood health, we must transcend clinical care and work with trusted community networks,” he said. “As we shift towards neighbourhood health, the query is not any longer whether we work with partners akin to faith organisations, but how you can achieve this systematically, at scale and as a core a part of the health system.” 

Charlotte Osborn-Forde, chief executive of NASP, said “the time to act is now,” adding that the NHS now has a possibility to attach more effectively with “an important, existing infrastructure for health and wellbeing.”

She continued: “The partnerships we construct today will shape the long run of neighbourhood health.”

Similarly, Good Faith Partnership’s lead consultant, Esther Platt said: “We know that when faith communities and the NHS work together intentionally, outcomes improve and persons are more in a position to access the assistance that they need. Health leaders should see faith organisations not as an add-on, but as core partners in neighbourhood health. We are able to help make that occur.”

The report concludes that faith communities already possess the “capability and assets” to enhance national wellbeing but says what’s now required is “real partnership built on principles of reciprocity, sustainable investment, and shared power.”