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Streeting said he would urge regulators to bring disciplinary action against doctors or nurses who express "racist or extremist views" about the Israel-Hamas war
By MATHILDA HELLER DECEMBER 16, 2024 01:40
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (R) and Health Secretary Wes Streeting (C) speak with members of the staff as they visit St. George's Hospital, on October 28, 2024 in London, England.
(photo credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The UK's Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has called on regulators to strike off doctors who express extremist views about Gaza in the workplace, he told The Telegraph on Saturday.
This comes as part of Streeting's attempt to crack down on antisemitism in the NHS, and to enforce a "zero tolerance approach to anyone who uses the conflict in the Middle East as a pretext to attack communities [in the NHS]."
Streeting said he would urge regulators to bring disciplinary action against doctors or nurses who express "racist or extremist views" about the Israel-Hamas war. This could escalate in some circumstances to the staff member being struck off the medical register, he added.
“I expect regulators to investigate any concerns suggesting patient safety is at risk due to discrimination or misconduct by a healthcare professional," he told The Telegraph.
"Any worker espousing racist or extremist views should know they could end up in front of a disciplinary panel."
Streeting added that patients and members of the public can raise concerns about professionals with the regulator directly, and there is then a statutory duty to investigate the complaints.
“Any patient racially or violently abusing NHS staff, who are simply trying to do their jobs and care for us, can and should be turned away," he added.
Antisemitism in the NHS
In the twelve months following October 7, the Jewish Medical Association submitted 28 complaints to the General Medical Council (GMC) in relation to antisemitism. In the year before October 7, it submitted only one.
However, Dr Fiona Sim, a member of the Jewish Medical Association (JMA) and a former chairwoman of the Royal Society for Public Health, said that while only 28 cases were formally submitted to the GMC by the JMA, she was aware of over 100 cases. However, the JMA chose to only submit "the really serious ones," she told The Times.
There have been multiple incidents of antisemitism and extremism within the NHS since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
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At the start of 2024, the NHS suspended Dr Wahid Asif Shaida, a GP who led the UK branch of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir before it was banned.
Shaida described the Oct 7 massacre as “a welcome punch on the nose” but was nevertheless reinstated as the NHS claimed there was insufficient evidence to support Shaida being unfit to practice.
In November, NHS consultant neurologist Dr. Rehiana Ali was found to have tweeted that Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar had turned him into a “male role model.”
In September, the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, one of the UK's biggest, said it had “determined that antisemitism training advertised to staff may be inappropriate. For this reason, we advise staff members not to attend this training."
Also this year, Dr Dimitrios Psaroudakis, a former-consultant gynecologist for The Evewell fertility clinic, was found by a tribunal to be “not racist” after claiming that the London Borough of Hammersmith would be better “Jew-free."
Other incidents reported by CST include a couple who were asked if they were Jewish when they inquired about treatment, before being told “Well, you’ll have lots of money for care, Jewish people are very rich.”
In May, a staff member shouted, "Get your Jewish ambulance to come and get you," at a Jewish woman leaving a hospital.
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