The UK government updated Parliament on Monday on its progress in implementing the recommendations of Lord John Mann’s review of antisemitism and other forms of racism in the National Health Service (NHS).
Mounting reports of abuse, institutional obstacles, and hostile working environments faced by Jewish patients and medical practitioners led the government to commission an independent review led by Lord Mann in October 2025. When that landmark review was published in June 2026, it exposed deep institutional failures across the health service.
The report revealed widespread deficiencies in how NHS trusts handle racist incidents, a lack of standardized reporting frameworks, and an absence of proper data collection, including the failure to track Jewish and Sikh staff as distinct ethnicities. The review called for an overhaul of staff training, tighter oversight by medical regulators, and mandatory adoption of clear definitions of hate speech across all trusts.
Minister of State for Health Karin Smyth delivered the update in a written statement to the House of Commons, noting that the Department of Health and Social Care had committed in June to provide an initial progress report in October, followed by a detailed assessment within 12 months.
'There is no place for antisemitism or any other form of racism in the NHS'
“As we said in June, there is no place for antisemitism or any other form of racism in the NHS,” Smyth stated. “The NHS was built on the premise of universal access to healthcare regardless of background, and it is therefore wholly unacceptable that anyone using that service, or any member of the dedicated workforce that provides it, should face discrimination, intimidation or abuse based on their race, religion, or ethnicity.”
The government confirmed it has accepted all recommendations directed at the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England. On openness and accountability, NHS staff published a set of standards in July, setting minimum expectations for employers to root out racism, alongside a new NHS leadership and management framework designed to set consistent behavioral expectations at all management levels.
On reporting and investigations, NHS England has launched training for human resources staff handling allegations of racism and is working to widen access to training for regulated health and care staff outside NHS settings. The statement noted that many NHS trusts have adopted both the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and the government’s definition of anti-Muslim hostility, though the government acknowledged that further progress is needed before adoption is universal across the health service.
Regulatory oversight measures include new guidance on equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) for healthcare regulators, being developed by the Professional Standards Authority, with fitness-to-practise leaders scheduled to meet in November. The Care Quality Commission has also strengthened its EDI assessments, aligned them with NHS workforce standards, and improved staff training on handling racist incidents.
NHS England plans to publish national safe-working-practices guidance and a violence-prevention framework
To protect healthcare staff, NHS England plans to publish national safe-working-practices guidance and a violence-prevention framework in early 2027, backed by an awareness campaign. The government also addressed Lord Mann’s concern about the future of the Jewish staff network after creating a new department, confirming that existing groups will meet every two months during the transition and that staff networking arrangements will remain fully operational after the reorganization.
Training initiatives include a forthcoming equality, diversity, and human rights module covering antisemitism and anti-Muslim hostility, and senior NHS leaders have been invited to complete specialized anti-racism training developed by the NHS Race and Health Observatory by March 2027. In addition to £1 million in government funding for antisemitism training for university and student union staff, the Medical Schools Council has begun awareness training, is drafting anti-racism guidance, and will meet medical school heads in December.
On staff policies, work is ongoing to provide clearer guidance on staff uniforms, and all trusts will eventually be asked to review their current policies. The government has already issued interim guidance on using the NHS identity on personal social media accounts.
The government said it is still working on other recommendations. A supplier has been appointed to lead public consultation and engagement in early 2027 on a unified information standard for protected characteristics, including an evaluation of Lord Mann’s recommendation to record Jewish and Sikh as distinct ethnicities in NHS data. The consultation also covers potential reforms to the General Medical Council’s regulatory framework.
A final report detailing progress on all recommendations will be presented to Parliament in June 2027.
The update comes amid heightened scrutiny of institutional antisemitism across British public services and education. Public concern follows recent reports, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s (CAA) documentary “Malignant: Antisemitism in the NHS,” which highlighted accounts of abuse faced by Jewish patients and staff, and polling showing that more than four in 10 Jewish respondents had taken steps to conceal their identity when using health services.
Further attention came from GnasherJew, an online watchdog that tracks and exposes antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and extremism in public life, after it recently disclosed that roughly 40 NHS medical professionals had shared antisemitic content online.
This added to broader findings in Sir David Bell’s independent review on antisemitism in UK schools and colleges, which highlighted pervasive hostility and a lack of consistent reporting frameworks across educational institutions.
A CAA spokesperson said in a statement to The Jerusalem Post, “We are grateful for this update and for the Government’s apparent determination to bring about change in the NHS. Following our shocking documentary, we will shortly be releasing our own set of robust recommendations to address the plague of hate in healthcare. We need major change to address extremism in the NHS, which has become a hostile environment for Jewish practitioners, staff and patients – and that change cannot come soon enough.”