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Trust chairs and chief executives must take mandatory antisemitism and anti-racism training within six months, as part of efforts to tackle “routine ostracism” of Jewish people in the NHS. A government-commissioned report on antisemitism and other forms of racism in the NHS and health regulation, published today, said training must take place for “approximately 400 chairs and chief executives of NHS provider trusts on antisemitism, anti-racism and building on the Macpherson principles, within the next six months”. The Macpherson principles were established by the 1999 Macpherson report, originating from the public inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. The report, by Labour peer and campaigner Lord Mann, said: “This training should support leaders to understand how they can take evidence-based actions to address discrimination and effect change in their organisations. Consideration should also be given to how this might be extended to integrated care boards and primary care networks’ leadership.” Leaders of health and care systems and professional regulators should also take the training, Lord Mann’s report said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 June 2026

NHS patients and staff will be better protected against hate, as the government has responded to Lord John Mann’s review of antisemitism and other forms of racism across the NHS and healthcare regulatory system, accepting all recommendations for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England. In the wake of a series of horrific attacks on the Jewish community across the country, including shocking examples of intimidation and abuse within the health service, Lord Mann was commissioned by the former Secretary of State and the Prime Minister in October 2025 to lead an urgent review into how the NHS and its regulatory system recognises, reports and tackles antisemitism and other forms of racism. Lord Mann has heard that Jewish people in the NHS experience “routine ostracism”, with Jewish staff being the only religious group in the latest NHS staff survey for whom discrimination from colleagues is rising rather than falling, resulting in some considering leaving the NHS. The antisemitism identified extends to patients too. Some Jewish patients reported not wishing to present for treatment or putting off receiving important care. The government is clear that all racism in the NHS is abhorrent, and NHS employers are the first line of defence and must be taking urgent action. With 16% of Muslim staff and 20% of Black and minority ethnic staff also reporting discrimination in the last year, the reforms will benefit everyone who experiences hatred or abuse in the health service. The reforms include delivering mandatory antisemitism training for NHS leaders and introducing clear national guidance on uniform and responding to racist behaviour. Lord Mann said: "Jewish people have to be confident that they will receive the same treatment as everyone else, at all times in all situations. If people feel, as they do, that some have to hide their identity as patients or suffer in silence as staff, then the universality of the NHS is fundamentally breached. "The solutions are simple but require a consistency of approach across the whole of the NHS and clear leadership at the top and across all NHS trusts. The NHS as an employer must act as a responsible and inclusive employer and take the responsibility of making its employment and service to patients one that the entirety of the country, including our Jewish community, can feel and see is one that is for them as well as everybody else." Read full press release Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 4 June 2026

Jewish patients and staff within the NHS feel compelled to conceal their religious identity and "suffer in silence" due to antisemitism, according to Lord John Mann, who led a review into the issue. Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, who was tasked last year with examining the problem, urged the NHS to embody its role as "a responsible and inclusive employer". His review's recommendations, which are yet to be publicly released, are scheduled to be presented to Parliament on Thursday. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) revealed that Lord Mann’s investigation uncovered instances of "routine ostracism" experienced by some Jewish staff, leading some to contemplate leaving the health service entirely. The report is also anticipated to highlight that certain Jewish patients have expressed reluctance to seek treatment or have delayed crucial care within the NHS, citing concerns about antisemitism. Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 July 2026

The Government is poised to introduce sweeping reforms aimed at making it significantly easier to dismiss doctors found to have engaged in racist or antisemitic conduct. The move, described as the biggest overhaul of the General Medical Council (GMC) in four decades, comes amid growing concerns over a perceived lack of swift action against medical professionals using discriminatory language. The Department of Health and Social Care has launched a consultation on legislative changes, citing "too many" recent instances of doctors, particularly on social media, using racist and antisemitic language without adequate regulatory response. The proposed reforms stem from a rapid review conducted by Lord Mann, commissioned last November to investigate antisemitism and other forms of racism within the health service. Among the initial recommendations from Lord Mann's review, which the government plans to consult on, are new powers for the GMC to challenge decisions made by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS). Additionally, the Professional Standards Authority, which oversees all health regulators, will be granted enhanced powers to scrutinise and contest such decisions. Read full story Source: The Independent, 24 March 2026

Circumcision has been classed as a potentially harmful practice in new official guidance for criminal prosecutors in England and Wales, but controversial plans to class it as possible child abuse have been dropped. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided against including circumcision alongside dowry abuse, witchcraft and female genital mutilation in its new guidance on honour-based abuse, after objections from Jewish and Muslim groups when the plans were revealed by the Guardian. Instead it has included a similar section on circumcision in updated guidance on offences against the person. It says: “In certain circumstances, such as the procedure being carried out by those falsely claiming to be suitably qualified practitioners or carried out in non-sterile conditions, it can cross the line into a harmful practice.” Romain, the convener of Reform Beit Din, Progressive Judaism’s religious court, said he approved of the altered wording. “I very much welcome the change of attitude by the CPS not to castigate circumcision, as it is an important practice for so many people of different faiths and cultures,” he told the Guardian. He added: “Circumcision can be safe and meaningful if done by experts, but rogue operators can both bring it into disrepute and endanger children.” Since 2001, circumcision has been a factor in the deaths of seven boys, including three babies who bled to death. Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS trust admitted 29 babies between 2022 and 2024 with serious complications from circumcision, including sepsis and haemorrhage, according to figures obtained under freedom of information laws. Last December, a coroner issued warnings about insufficient regulation over who can perform a circumcision, after the death of a six-month-old boy, Mohamed Abdisamad, from a streptococcus infection in 2023. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 March 2026

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

Advisers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have raised fresh concerns over Covid vaccine uptake among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities (BAME) as research showed up to 72% of black people said they were unlikely to have the jab. Historical issues of unethical healthcare research, and structural and institutional racism and discrimination, are key reasons for lower levels of trust in the vaccination programme, a report from Sage said. The figures come from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, which conducts annual interviews to gain a long-term perspective on British people’s lives. In late November, the researchers contacted 12,035 participants to investigate the prevalence of coronavirus vaccine hesitancy in the UK, and whether certain subgroups were more likely to be affected by it. Overall, the study found high levels of willingness to be vaccinated, with 82% of people saying they were likely or very likely to have the jab – rising to 96% among people over the age of 75. Women, younger people and those with lower levels of education were less willing, but hesitancy was particularly high among people from black groups, where 72% said they were unlikely or very unlikely to be vaccinated. Among Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups this figure was 42%. Eastern European groups were also less willing. “Trust is particularly important for black communities that have low trust in healthcare organisations and research findings due to historical issues of unethical healthcare research,” said the Sage experts. “Trust is also undermined by structural and institutional racism and discrimination. Minority ethnic groups have historically been underrepresented within health research, including vaccines trials, which can influence trust in a particular vaccine being perceived as appropriate and safe, and concerns that immunisation research is not ethnically heterogenous.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 January 2021

Fake news is likely to be causing some people from the UK's South Asian communities to reject the Covid vaccine, a doctor has warned. Dr Harpreet Sood, who is leading an NHS anti-disinformation drive, said it was "a big concern" and officials were working "to correct so much fake news". He said language and cultural barriers played a part in the false information. Dr Sood, from NHS England, said officials were working with South Asian role models, influencers, community leaders and religious leaders to help debunk myths about the vaccine. Much of the disinformation surrounds the contents of the vaccine. He said: "We need to be clear and make people realise there is no meat in the vaccine, there is no pork in the vaccine, it has been accepted and endorsed by all the religious leaders and councils and faith communities." "We're trying to find role models and influencers and also thinking about ordinary citizens who need to be quick with this information so that they can all support one another because ultimately everyone is a role model to everyone", he added. Dr Samara Afzal has been vaccinating people in Dudley, West Midlands. She said: "We've been calling all patients and booking them in for vaccines but the admin staff say when they call a lot of the South Asian patients they decline and refuse to have the vaccination. "Also talking to friends and family have found the same. I've had friends calling me telling me to convince their parents or their grandparents to have the vaccination because other family members have convinced them not to have it". Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 January 2021

Seeking help for mental health is never easy but for some members of London's Punjabi community, the shame and stigma associated means they have struggled more than most. Anyone having "problems of the mind" is often considered a burden upon the family says Dr Rakish Rana, founder of the Clear Coach, who added that a lack of education on mental health means it is considered a taboo subject. "To support those with mental health issues, there needs to be more awareness in the South Asian community, whether that's through religious or community leaders, schools and families," he said. "As with all cases of mental health, it needs to be openly discussed and normalised." Shuranjeet Singh, the founder of Taraki, a not-for-profit mental health organisation, said its research carried out into the Punjabi community found more than half of respondents reported a decline in their mental health as a result of Covid-19. "I can see stigma slowly reducing and I hope that community-focused solutions are well researched and funded, because no community is truly 'hard to reach'." Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 October 2020

A controversial new Florida bill will allow physicians to opt out of performing certain services because of "sincerely held" religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. The bill, part of a "medical freedom" legislative package signed last week, permits healthcare providers to make conscience-based objections to providing medical care and protects them from getting sued or losing their licenses. Critics say the new law could exacerbate health disparities and lead to discrimination against certain groups of patients, including LGBTQ+ individuals and women seeking reproductive healthcare. Psychologists could refuse to treat someone for gender dysphoria, for example. Doctors could refuse to prescribe birth control, administer childhood vaccines, or accept patients with state insurance. Kenneth W. Goodman, professor and director of the University of Miami's Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, told Medscape Medical News the legislation could upset a longstanding precedent. "To deny care based on unspecified and unarticulated 'moral, ethical, or religious reasons' opens the door to neglect, abandonment, and suspicion," Goodman said. "It undermines two millennia of a cornerstone of medical ethics: take care of your patients — no matter who they are." Read full story Source: Medscape, 18 May 2023

The government has announced a “short, sharp review” of antisemitism in the NHS, with the prime minister saying some cases are ”simply not being dealt with”. Sir Keir Starmer announced the review in a meeting with the Community Safety Trust, which protects Jewish communities in the UK, today. He said: “There are just too many examples, clear examples, of antisemitism that have not been dealt with adequately or effectively. “So we need to do that review. We’ve already put in place management training in relation to the NHS, but I think we need a wider review, because in some cases, clear cases are simply not being dealt with, and so we need to get to the root of that.” HSJ has asked what management training he is referring to. Baron John Mann, who is the government’s adviser on antisemitism, has been appointed to carry out the review. Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting today said there was “racism in our ranks” and he had been shocked by “NHS staff who seem to think that racism against Jewish people is acceptable – encouraged by a complacent and indifferent regulatory system.” It follows widespread media coverage of cases where doctors who appeared to have made antisemitic remarks were allowed to continue working. Mr Streeting has previously said that in future they would be suspended before facing a tribunal. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 October 2025