About this advice

BIMA’s Bare Below the Elbows and Theatre Hijabs (HBBE) working group presented their national research and audit data recently at a dedicated national roundtable organised and chaired by NHS Employers. The roundtable was attended by members of:

NHS England
NHS Improvement
BMA
GMC
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Infection Prevention Society

Our HBBE representatives presented data to suggest that dress codes may be acting as a barrier to career progression, particularly surgical careers, and that awareness of existing Bare Below the Elbows policy was low amongst Muslim female healthcare professionals.

Many stakeholders had a high level of interest in the issue and argued for greater national clarity and the need for greater education on this and faith literacy amongst healthcare professionals in general. Further work highlighting the importance of this issue and solutions will follow inshaAllah, and we will keep our membership updated.

If you have any good practice examples from your trust to share, such as disposable headscarves in theatres, or alternatives to Bare Below the Elbows, please email [email protected] so this can be included in the resource packs produced.

If you’d like to know more about the excellent work achieved by the HBBE team please visit our guidance section.