Unreasonable accommodation:

The Iconoclast has a juicy morsel of information about the progressive dhimmitude of the British public, which seems to have pervaded more or less into every nook and cranny of normal Western life (such as separate prayer rooms at universities, segregated swimming pools and beaches, Muslim cashiers refusing to ring in Pork products or alcoholic drinks, cab drivers refusing to pick up visually-impaired passengers with dogs, a policewoman refusing to shake hands with superior officer, Muslim voters refusing to show their faces for identification, etc etc :

... nurses are being encouraged to spend valuable time turning around the beds of Muslim patients up to five times a day - so they can face Mecca.

... they are also expected to provide patients with running water so they can wash before prayer.

And then, of course, they are required to turn the beds back around to return the wards to normality...

A spokeswoman for the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said it had made the changes and introduced the training to better meet the needs of their Muslim patients. This included staff positioning the beds of "very ill" Muslim patients to face the Qibla in Mecca if requested by the patient.

But an experienced nurse at Dewsbury and District Hospital in Yorkshire where the ideas are being tested, has blasted the scheme.

She said: "It would be easier to create Muslim-only wards with every bed facing Mecca than deal with this. We have a huge Muslim population in Dewsbury and if we are having to turn dozens of beds to face Mecca five times a day, plus provide running water before and after prayers, it is bound to impact on the essential medical service we are supposed to be providing.
"Although the beds are designed to be moved, the bays are not really suitable for having loads of beds moving around to face a different direction and, despite our best efforts, it does cause disruption for non-Muslim patients."

Conservative MP David Davies also criticised the idea, saying: "Hospitals should be concentrating on stopping the spread of infections than kowtowing to the politically-correct brigade.If the need for fresh running water is so great then perhaps family members could be on hand to assist the already overworked medical staff.”

The scheme comes just a year after some NHS hospitals introduced Burka-style gowns for Muslim patients who did not want to show their face during operations.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust confirmed that nurses were encouraged to help meet individual requests.

She said: "Nurses have not been ordered to move beds or provide running water - they have just been encouraged to help meet patients' needs wherever possible. If a sick patient requests that their bed be moved to face Mecca, then it is right that the hospital looks at this request - even if it is more than once a day. We can also try and move the patient to a bed that faces Mecca permanently”.

Hugh Fitzgerald (in the comments): What about turning Mrs. Cohen's bed toward Jerusalem? Oh, she hasn't asked for it to be done? Well, let's do it anyway. It's the right thing to do. On second thought, maybe it would make others mad. I'll tell you what. Just turn it Mecca-wards, and tell her it's Jerusalem-wards. Here in England you can hardly tell the difference anyway.