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Healthcare
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Starmer Orders Mandatory Antisemitism Training Across the NHS

By
Distilled Post Editorial Team

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that all 1.5 million NHS staff will undergo mandatory antisemitism and anti-racism training, as part of a wider government effort to reinforce equality and accountability across public services. The directive follows concerns about rising reports of hate incidents and discrimination in health and social care settings, as well as growing pressure for visible leadership on inclusion.

Under the new measures, NHS England will update its training framework to include specific modules on antisemitism, reflecting guidance from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The review will also cover NHS staff uniform policies to ensure they align with principles of respect, neutrality, and cultural awareness.

The initiative signals a renewed emphasis on ethics and behaviour within the health service, building on earlier diversity and inclusion programmes that have often struggled to create lasting cultural change. Many clinicians and managers support stronger anti-racism efforts, but some caution that training alone cannot shift attitudes without sustained leadership and open dialogue across teams.

Starmer has described the policy as a reaffirmation of the NHS’s founding values of fairness and equality. Yet implementation will be key. Mandatory learning can set expectations, but embedding empathy, reflection, and accountability into daily working life requires consistent action and reinforcement.

For the NHS, which serves an increasingly diverse and complex society, this move is both symbolic and strategic. It acknowledges that professionalism and compassion must evolve together, and that public trust depends on how staff treat one another as much as how they treat patients.