It was intended, she says, as a simple but heartfelt gesture of comfort and support for a troubled colleague. Victoria Wasteney put her hand on her friend’s knee and, asking if she could pray for her, said simply: ‘God, I trust You will bring peace and You will bring healing.’ So when Miss Wasteney was later suspended by the NHS from her position as a senior occupational health therapist for having prayed with her colleague, she was left openly distraught and angry. East London NHS Foundation Trust suspended her for nine months on full pay, but, on Tuesday Miss Wasteney, who describes openly herself as a 'born-again Christian’, begins a legal challenge against the Trust, claiming it discriminated against her on grounds of religion and that it infringed her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. She says she also wants to challenge what she regards as the stifling of ordinary conversations about faith in the workplace.