Politics
Health Secretary Wes Streeting ‘shocked’ by NHS antisemitism
‘I've had enough people telling me that they feel unsafe to know that we need to act’ he said this week
January 13, 2025 16:26
‘I've had enough people telling me that they feel unsafe to know that we need to act’ he said this week
January 13, 2025 16:26Health Secretary Wes Streeting is “challenging” the NHS “at every level” to act to tackle antisemitism within it.
“I have been pretty shocked by what I have seen and heard about the conduct of people working in the NHS and the experiences of patients too”, he told the Jewish Labour Movement’s one-day conference on Sunday.
“There is a fundamental principle here, which is everyone – whatever their background, whatever their beliefs and whatever their political views – should feel safe and in safe hands when people go into any health or care provider.”
He added: “I mean, your life is literally in people's hands ... if you have a fear that you're going to be treated differently because of who you are, that is terrifying”.
The Health Secretary said he had had “enough people telling me that they feel unsafe, either in the NHS or as a patient or working in the NHS, to know that we need to act”.
Although he thought it would be easier to take action against “overt prejudice and discrimination”, he wouldn’t shy away from discussions about what he called the “thornier” issue of “people bringing their politics” to work.
“People might think they're wearing a particular badge or lanyard out of solidarity with a particular cause they're passionate about, and they might not even think for a moment about how those symbols, or those messages, might be received by someone else.”
Streeting said he wanted to “do some work with the workforce on this” because he didn’t want a total shut-down of political activity for healthcare workers.
“What I wouldn't want to do is say to staff trade unions that they couldn't go to work and have meetings that say what a terrible Health Secretary they've got … I might strongly disagree with anyone who says that while I'm the Health Secretary, but it's legitimate for staff trade unions to be able to organise politically in the workplace and to criticise leadership, management and government”, he said.
The MP for the East London constituency of Ilford North, said there had been some “some high-profile cases in the media” of antisemitism in the NHS. Although he would not go into details, he said: “Those cases tell me that the regulation and the regulators are not working effectively, that even within existing regulations, I've seen some decisions made which I think are woeful.”
He continued: “Fundamentally, I've had enough people telling me that they feel unsafe, either in the NHS or as a patient or working in the NHS, to know that we need to act”.
The JC has previously reported that a doctor exposed as the former leader of a jihadi organisation was allowed back to work as a GP in north London by the NHS. Wahid Asif Shaida had chaired the UK operation of Hizb-ut-Tahrir until it was proscribed by the previous government a year ago.
Additionally, an NHS neurologist who backed Hamas’s “armed struggle” prompted calls for the General Medical Council (GMC) to investigate the "growing trend" of medical professionals expressing support for extremism. A GMC spokesman confirmed that she remained suspended on “an interim basis” while it carried out an investigation.
Both the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council expressed concern last November about the Trade Union Congress’s campaign to encourage workers to wear dress up in the colours of the Palestinian flag or wear “a Palestinian keffiyeh” as part of a display of solidarity.
Unison, which represents healthcare workers, backed the campaign but clarified that their members were not being asked to wear pro-Palestine attire when dealing with patients.