A NURSE who claims he was sacked for suggesting patients could benefit from going to church is considering legal action against the NHS, a Christian campaigner said.

Anand Rao, 71, said he spoke to the women during a role-play training session in which they played the part of patients with life-threatening conditions. He told one woman, playing a patient with a heart condition, she should go to church to alleviate stress.

Mr Rao was suspended by Leicester NHS Trust after the course directors complained about his conduct, and was then dismissed after a disciplinary hearing.

He is being represented by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC) and is considering legal action against his former employer.

CLC director Andrea Minichiello Williams said: “How is it possible 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 is the fruits of a closed society.”

Kate Bradley, from the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said: “The incident which led to the launch of the investigation was unfortunately not the first. Since joining us in 2005, Mr Rao had shown a disregard for the Nursing and Midwifery’s (NMC) code of conduct which he breached on more than one occasion.

“Mr Rao’s contract on our bank staff was formally terminated in February, 2009, after he failed to attend two disciplinary hearings.”