NHS staff will soon be prohibited from wearing their uniforms to pro-Palestine protests, and will not be allowed to wear pro-Palestine badges at work, the UK's Health Secretary Wes Streeting informed the Board of Deputies of British Jews in a letter on Friday.
The letter, which was shared with The Jerusalem Post, follows the Board's discussions with Streeting about the Jewish community's challenges in accessing healthcare, especially considering the "appalling experiences of antisemitism affecting Jewish staff and patients."
Streeting informed the board that NHS staff should not be wearing their uniforms to political protests, except for protests against Government health policies. The badges that can be worn should only relate to professional qualifications.
Streeting added that he had informed NHS England of the necessity of adhering to the guidance.
The Board had asked Streeting in December 2024 “to ensure that clear guidance is transmitted directly to every NHS trust, making it clear that no symbols [that] include any form of badge/jewellery with the Palestinian flag, maps clearly intended to show a Palestinian State without an Israeli one, slogans mentioning, ‘From the River to the Sea’ and ‘Intifada’, or watermelon symbols [can be worn at work]."
The Times reported in November 2024 that scores of NHS staff had been reported for “intimidating and distressing” Jewish patients by wearing “Free Palestine” badges, something which UK Lawyers or Israel called a "breach of the Equality Act 20210."
Streeting's letter also mentioned the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is currently endorsed by the British government, although not yet adopted by the NHS.
While Streeting said that all public bodies were encouraged to adopt the definition, it is nevertheless "non-legislative" and to be used as guidance. He added that the NHS considers the Equality Act 2010 to be sufficient when it comes to ensuring antisemitism is unlawful at work.
Additionally, Streeting responded to the Board of Deputies' request for mandatory antisemitism training in the NHS, saying that while the Antisemitism Police Trust has been invited by some trusts to provide training, NHS England has chosen to move away from centrally mandated training and interventions "due to limited evidence it was having the impact intended."
One of the other matters addressed was the need for the recognition of Jewish ethnicity within NHS data sets and equality monitoring arrangements. As yet, there is no option to choose 'Jewish' when asked to describe ethnic groups on NHS Equality and diversity monitoring forms.
There is the option to choose 'other ethnic group,' and then write 'other.' Streeting said he could confirm that NHS England was conducting a review of equality monitoring, both in terms of patient and workforce data, and that options for updating the monitoring, in line with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, were being considered. This was in answer to requests about how Jewish ethnicity and other not-included ethnicities should be recorded.
The report is to be published towards the end of 2025.
Board of Deputies Vice President Andrew Gilbert explained that Streeting's letter came as a response to a Jewish Community delegation meeting with Streeting in December 2024, where he had been presented with over 100 pages of documentation of antisemitism in NHS and Community Health.
"We appreciate that Mr Streeting had not only read but also digested the situation and was clear that action needed to be taken," Gilbert said.
“We are reassured by the letter that responds positively to many of our concerns. We look forward to engaging with Mr Streeting and Sir Jim Mackey of the NHS transformation team on the next steps, and how we can eradicate antisemitism in the NHS and health sector."
NHS antisemitism
There have been myriad reports of antisemitism in the NHS since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
The Community Security Trust released a report into antisemitism in the British national healthcare provider in March 2025, finding that NHS staff are more likely than members of the public to perpetrate antisemitic abuse.
The number of reports of antisemitism in the NHS increased threefold in the 17 months before and after October 7, 2023.
In December 2024, Streeting called on regulators to strike off doctors who express extremist views about Gaza in the workplace as part of his efforts to crack down on antisemitism in the NHS.
"Any worker espousing racist or extremist views should know they could end up in front of a disciplinary panel," he told the Telegraph at the time.
In September 2024, a London NHS trust apologized after it sent a weekly bulletin to its 9,000 staff telling them not to attend an antisemitism training course.
