Some Jewish patients and staff in the NHS feel compelled to hide their identity and “suffer in silence”, according to a government-commissioned review into antisemitism in the health service.
The report, carried out on behalf of the Government by Lord John Mann, found that Jewish staff in parts of the NHS experience “routine ostracism” and increasing discrimination from colleagues, leading some Jewish employees to consider leaving the health service.
It also identified concerns among Jewish patients, some of whom said they delayed or avoided seeking treatment due to fears of discrimination or a lack of cultural safety in healthcare settings.
The report was ordered “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,” the Department of Health and Social Care said in a press release.
As part of the report’s recommendations, the NHS will ban staff from displaying political symbols and badges, including pro-Palestinian symbols, while on duty.
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 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.”
Health Secretary James Murray said racism and discrimination “betray everything the NHS stands for” and undermine its ability to provide safe, world-class care.
Speaking to journalists, Murray said that allowing staff members to display political symbols in medical settings risks undermining trust and deterring some patients from seeking care.
“When you have a situation where political views can be brought into the NHS, that can cause Jewish patients to think twice about whether to go to the NHS for their treatment,” he told local media.
The announcement came shortly after a Jewish doctor in London told ITV News that colleagues had said they would refuse to treat Israeli patients, even if their lives were in danger. The UK’s Department of Health called the comments “shocking” and said that “it is unacceptable that people do not currently feel safe working in and using the health service,” according to The Jewish Chronicle.
Between October 2023 and July 2025, 99 antisemitic incidents were recorded across the healthcare sector, according to a report published last year by the Antisemitism Policy Trust.
Under the reforms, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care will introduce mandatory antisemitism training for senior leaders, as well as updated equality, diversity and human rights training for around 1.5 million staff, with specific content on antisemitism and anti-Muslim hostility.
New national guidance will also be issued on uniform policy, the use of NHS-issued equipment, and how trusts should respond to racist behaviour from both staff and the public.
The government said it will work with regulators to align definitions and approaches to racism across the system. Ministers will report progress to Parliament by October 2026, with a full update within 12 months of publication.
Dean Royles, interim chief executive of NHS Employers, said the review “reveals beyond any doubt that antisemitism and other forms of racism in the NHS are rising, as they are within our wider society, and must be tackled with urgency by all of us”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the initiative, noting that it had long pushed for many of the measures included in the report.
“Our public services must set the standard for confronting anti-Jewish hatred and discrimination, and we must ensure the NHS, one of our proudest national institutions, is safe and welcoming for every staff member or service user, regardless of faith or ethnicity,” Board of Deputies Vice President Karen Newman said in a statement.
