Antisemitic abuse rises within NHS and staff are the ‘worst culprits’

NHS staff are more likely than members of the public to perpetrate antisemitic abuse in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries since the October 7 Hamas attacks, according to complaints compiled by an influential charity.

The file includes a Jewish doctor being given a hijab as a secret santa present and a patient having pro-Palestine stickers plastered across his room as he lay fighting for his life.

Meanwhile, a group of therapists who complained about a colleague posting messages supporting Hamas online were subject to a countercomplaint for “micro-aggressions”. A patient waiting to be discharged from hospital was told: “Get your Jewish ambulance to come and get you.”

Dave Rich, policy director at the Community Security Trust, said: “It is essential that hospitals and NHS trusts deal with this trend of rising antisemitism quickly and firmly and set a clear example that anti-Jewish prejudice has no place in the NHS.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Times, 6 March 2025