A Christian nurse has allegedly been sacked after suggesting that patients should turn to God during a staff training day.

Anand Rao, who works as a nurse for University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, was taking part in a role play when he advised one woman playing the role of a patient with a life-threatening heart condition that she could alleviate stress by going to church, reports the BBC.

Kate Bradley, from the Trust, was quoted as saying that Mr Rao had “showed little regard for the standards of care and professionalism that is expected of him as a nurse”.

The Christian Legal Centre has taken up the case and says it is considering taking legal action over the Trust’s decision to dismiss Mr Rao, 71.

CLC director Andrea Minichiello Williams said: "How is it possible that a nurse who has served the public for 40 years should find himself dismissed because in a training exercise he advised someone to go to church?

"To seek to censor and suppress this kind of language and belief is the fruits of a closed society."