Has mind-body spirituality become a significant resource within the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK? And, to the extent that it is a growing presence, how is this to be explained? This paper looks at the expansion of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the NHS, and explores its connection to spirituality. In addition, the effects on healthcare professionals are examined, concentrating on the example of nursing. To introduce the argument, cultural factors, influencing nurses and patients, work together with policy directives to ensure that mind-body spirituality is an attractive way of articulating the value the NHS attaches to the patient-centred, the whole person and spirituality.1 To pave the way, I first provide a brief summary of a recently completed research project - a project that helps explain my interest in developments within the NHS, the approach adopted in this article, and - critically - what is meant by holistic mind-body spirituality. The research by the author and his colleague (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005) was reviewed in Volume 6, No. 3 of Spirituality and Health International.