Starmer orders NHS antisemitism review after ‘clear cases not dealt with adequately’ | Antisemitism

Keir Starmer has ordered a review of antisemitism in the NHS, saying “clear cases” were not being adequately addressed.

The Prime Minister said the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, John Mann, would lead the review as part of a wider crackdown on antisemitism in the UK.

During his visit to the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism and provides protection to Jewish communities in the UK, the prime minister also announced £10 million will be provided for the security of Jewish facilities, including synagogues and schools.

“We have heard loud and clear over the last few days and weeks that words are not enough, action is what matters.”

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) later confirmed that the “urgent review” follows “recent incidents of antisemitism by doctors, which have highlighted issues of culture and regulation in the healthcare system” and that the review will consider “how we protect patients and staff from racism and hold perpetrators to account”.

Health secretary Wes Streeting added: “I am appalled by recent incidents of antisemitism by NHS doctors and will not tolerate it. There is no place in our NHS for doctors or staff to continue working after persistently using antisemitic or hateful language.”

Announcing the review at CST, Starmer said: “Lord Mann will review the NHS for us. There are too many examples, clear examples, of antisemitism that has not been dealt with adequately or effectively.”

“We have already introduced management training in relation to the NHS, but I think we need a wider review because in some cases open cases are not being dealt with and so we need to get to the root of this.”

Meanwhile, the government wants NHS England to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and “set clear expectations” that every trust, integrated care board and arms-length agency will do the same.

DHSC said it was reviewing NHS England’s uniform and workwear guidance, adding that “the guidance will not affect staff’s freedom to protest and speak out on political issues” in order to “protect freedom of religious expression while ensuring patients are respected at all times”, but will ensure staff’s political views do not impact on patient care.

During his visit to CST, Starmer also said universities had been “too slow” in dealing with cases of antisemitism, singling out Oxford University, which is understood to have suspended a student on Wednesday after he was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

The student allegedly chanted “Destroy the Zios” against Gaza during a protest in London on Saturday. Starmer said: “Look at Oxford this week. It was a slow response to the clearest cases.”

Starmer’s visit followed the terrorist attack on Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue on October 2, in which two people were killed.

Statistics published by the Home Office last week show that anti-Semitic hate crimes are near record levels. The Prime Minister said: “The numbers are all going in the wrong direction. It’s not just the numbers, it’s creating distrust and fear in our society.”

In a separate review published in July, Mann and former Conservative minister Penny Mordaunt warned that antisemitism was increasing in British society, including a “specific unaddressed problem” within the NHS.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood, who accompanied Starmer to CST on Thursday, said she was reviewing protest legislation and providing additional police protection outside synagogues and other venues.

But the “bigger issue”, he said, was how to improve community cohesion so that Jewish children “can go to school without learning what segregation is.”

Mark Gardner, CST’s chief executive, said the meeting was “very simple and very productive”, adding: “We don’t want to live behind high walls for the rest of our lives.”

Following the announcement, Claudia Mendoza, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: “Antisemitism in the NHS is out of control.”

Meanwhile, the government has said it will also look at how we can best support Muslim communities in the face of rising Islamophobic hate crime.