The NHS is funding a comprehensive study of the health needs of the large strictly Orthodox community in Salford.

Manchester Jewish Care Forum chair Jonny Wineberg and psychologist Dr Sandi Mann are heading the £10,000 project. They will use questionnaires and focus groups to examine how the NHS can better serve the Charedi population.

Mr Wineberg, who is also vice-president of Manchester Jewish Representative Council, said that by supporting the research, the Salford NHS Clinical Commissioning Group had recognised that "this is a growing community with particular needs.

"There's quite a lot of poverty in the community. Plus there are cultural issues, particularly for more Orthodox people needing a nurse or doctor of the same gender and the right kind of provision on Shabbat. This study is about getting the correct interpretation of all of these issues."

The study was at the second of three stages, "a questionnaire in English and Yiddish. We've already got 200 back but we need to double that."

Dr Mann said that "in some sectors of the community, there is a strong reliance on rabbinical input in medical decisions, so that might require provisions for those rabbis so they can advise people properly. We've been really impressed by how people have got on board."

At Salford's Hershel Weiss Children's Centre, manager Michelle Ciffer said the survey would help its planning.

"It's really important that the local Orthodox community gets a voice. They're very vocal to us, to people they trust, on medical topics, but they never seem to get a voice when there's something more national." The findings will be published in the autumn.