A London National Health Service (NHS) trust has reached a £10,000 settlement with a Maltese priest and retracted its statement that its policy on equality and diversity took precedence over religious belief, admitting that the phrase should have been worded differently.

Patrick Pullicino, a 73-year-old former professor of neurosciences, put up a fight after he was removed from the chaplaincy of a psychiatric hospital for answering a patient’s question about the Church’s teaching on marriage.

Pullicino, who left the medical profession to join the priesthood nearly four years ago, filed a claim against the trust for harassment, religious discrimination and victimisation.

Pullicino was a temporary member of staff at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust when the incident took place in August 2019.

He had been assigned to visit a male patient on one of the hospital’s mental health wards who had specifically requested to see a Catholic chaplain. They went for a walk accompanied by another member of staff.

Pullicino recounted that, during their 20-minute conversation, the patient said he was in a same-sex relationship and wanted to marry his partner. He asked Pullicino for his opinion as a Catholic priest.

“I wondered why he would ask me such a question so I simply told him: ‘Well, what do you think God would say about that?’ This is a Catholic asking a Catholic chaplain. It was not a confrontational conversation, although it ended abruptly,” he said.

The patient also told Pullicino that his father had severed ties with him because he was upset by his way of life. Asked for his advice, Pullicino said that in the same situation he too might be upset and that it was important to have the support of his family. He encouraged him to see the situation from his father’s point of view and reconcile.

When he returned to the ward the following day, Pullicino was met by another member of staff who told him he could not enter because a complaint had been lodged against him.

He said he was then asked to attend a meeting with the head chaplain of the trust and later received an e-mail telling him that “NHS policy on equality and diversity in relation to the complaint supersedes religious standing while working and representing the trust”.

There is a tendency throughout the NHS to force their patients to accept generic ‘spiritual’ care instead of giving support for their Christian beliefs. Christian faith is particularly important in sickness, particularly when in danger of death

According to Pullicino, a similar stance was taken by the acting chief executive for the trust, Vanessa Ford. When responding to the complaint, she repeatedly apologised to the patient for the alleged comments and said that Pullicino’s supervisor would “ensure that he understands the trust policy on equality and diversity and that this takes precedence over religious beliefs”, forcing him to fight back.

The case was set to be heard in July at Croydon Employment Tribunal, but the Christian Legal Centre told Times of Malta that the NHS had reached out following media coverage given to the story and offered a settlement.

In response, acting chief executive Ford accepted that “on reflection”, her letter should have been “phrased differently” as “religion and belief is afforded exactly the same rights as the other eight protected characteristics” of the trust’s policies.

She also assured Pullicino that “there was no suggestion that the Trust felt you had told the patient that he would go to hell”.

A spokesperson for the Christian Legal Centre said the Trust had settled the case by awarding him £10,000 in compensation “for perceived injury to feelings”. The figure falls within the middle band of guidelines for ‘serious’ cases of discrimination.

He will not be reinstated since the tribunal he was going to face did not have the power to do so. He is awaiting his next assignment.

Contacted by Times of Malta, Pullicino said he was “pleased and relieved” by the outcome but said a government inquiry was urgently needed.

He said it had been crucial to expose the NHS’s disturbing approach to the standard expression of Christian beliefs.

“There is a tendency throughout the NHS to force their patients to accept generic ‘spiritual’ care instead of giving support for their Christian beliefs. Christian faith is particularly important in sickness, particularly when in danger of death,” he added.

He said he would be donating most of the sum to charity, including the Christian Legal Centre whose lawyers helped him win his case and the Thomas More Legal Centre for Catholic legal advice.