{"id":566189,"date":"2026-07-30T02:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T02:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/566189\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T02:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T02:46:13","slug":"bma-urges-nhs-pause-on-ihra-antisemitism-definition-rollout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/566189\/","title":{"rendered":"BMA urges NHS pause on IHRA antisemitism definition rollout"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling on National Health Service England to immediately pause the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)<\/a> working definition of antisemitism across NHS organizations, pending legal opinion.<\/p>\n

The call follows a motion passed at the BMA\u2019s Annual Representative Meeting<\/a> in June 2026, calling for an investigation into the use of the definition, arguing that it may restrict free expression by healthcare workers.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the chief executive of NHS England, Sir Jim Mackey, the BMA pointed out that there is no legal requirement on NHS organizations to adopt the IHRA definition. Yet trusts have been strongly encouraged to implement it and report back to NHS England by the end of July 2026.<\/p>\n

In the letter, the BMA<\/a> argues the rollout is moving forward without proper assessment of its practical and legal implications for employers and staff, and without clear guidance on how it should be applied. The BMA is therefore calling for a pause to the rollout, pending proper safeguards being put in place, consultation, and legal advice.<\/p>\n

The letter also points to a legal opinion from four senior lawyers, commissioned and circulated to trust chief executives by law firm Leigh Day, which sets out the risks facing NHS England and individual employers if the definition is adopted without adequate safeguards.<\/p>\n

The Leigh Day lawyers said that antisemitism is already prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and that the IHRA definition creates \u201cdifficult questions for NHS organizations at a time when many healthcare workers are expressing concern about Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

BMA\u2019s deputy chair of Council Dr. Emma Runswick cited this opinion, adding that \u201cNHS staff must be able to work in environments free from harassment and be able to engage in legitimate political and ethical debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge any hospital trust that has already adopted the definition to review its safeguards and pause if these are found lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BMA wants to discuss its concerns with NHS England urgently and in the letter, asks NHS England to confirm that the implementation timetable will be paused.<\/p>\n

This comes only months after the publication of the UK government advisor on antisemitism Lord John Mann\u2019s review of antisemitism in the NHS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As part of the review, Mann heard that Jewish people in the NHS experience \u201croutine ostracism,\u201d with Jewish staff being the only religious group in the latest NHS Staff Survey for whom discrimination from colleagues is rising rather than falling, resulting in some considering leaving the NHS.<\/p>\n

He found that antisemitism extends to patients, too, as some Jewish patients reported they did not wish to present for treatment or put off receiving important care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is well-evidenced that racism is persistent in the NHS,\u201d Mann said, adding that \u201cthe case for taking action to combat antisemitism and other forms of racism in the NHS is clear.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling on National Health Service England to immediately pause the implementation of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,12728,119938,85,46,43,2662,1299],"class_list":["post-566189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism","tag-hate-monitor","tag-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-nhs","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}