UK's National Healthcare System told employees to skip antisemitism training, apologizes

A London National Healthcare System (NHS) trust has apologized after it sent a weekly bulletin to its 9000 staff telling them not to attend an antisemitism training course, Jewish News, The Telegraph, and The Jerusalem Post's sources reported on Wednesday.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, one of the UK's biggest, said on Monday that they had "become aware of concerns regarding the antisemitism training that was recently advertised to staff" and “determined that this training and its content may be inappropriate. For this reason, we advise staff members not to attend this training."

“We are currently conducting an investigation into our training approval processes to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

The CNWL NHS employees, alongside employees from other trusts around the country, were invited to an online workshop about antisemitism. The brief stated that the 90-minute course, to be held Thursday, would cover "roots and modern manifestations of antisemitism" as well as Holocaust denial and Israel.

The course is set to be run by Danny Stone, the chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust (APT).

The details of the course, obtained by The Jerusalem Post from someone attending, lists its objectives as "increased understanding of who the Jewish people are," "increased understanding of what antisemitism is," "knowledge about the different manifestations of antisemitism," and "understanding of antisemitism online, its impact and its pervasiveness," among others.

Trust apologizes 

The trust's chief executive, Clair Murdoch, returned early from vacation on Wednesday, to “personally and swiftly” address the message, which she said was sent "in error" according to Jewish News.

In an email to staff, obtained by Jewish News, Murdoch said she was launching an investigation into why the bulletin was sent out, and apologized that the original message "did not go through our usual sign-off processes.” 

“I have asked that colleagues look into how such a message was communicated in error and we will get to the bottom of it.”

However, Murdoch admitted that some individuals through the BAME network (black, Asian and minority ethnic) had raised concerns about the training.

Murdoch said she had personally called Mr. Stone “to apologize for what I can only describe as poor process and error on our part.”

She then encouraged staff to attend NHS England-sponsored training on Islamophobia later in September.

An APT spokesman said: “We understand that an internal procedural error led to the Central and North West London NHS Trust distributing a message about a session run by the Antisemitism Policy Trust that should not have been sent."

“We are pleased that the trust has now endorsed our training and encouraged its members to attend, and we were grateful for the apology we received."

“As anti-Jewish racism continues to rise, it is vital that people have the tools to identify and challenge it.”

A source told The Jerusalem Post that the Jewish Medical Association is investigating the incident.

This comes after a British MP, Jess Phillips, claimed that she was seen faster by a doctor at a National Health Service hospital because the medical professional was Palestinian and because Phillips had voted in favor of a Gaza ceasefire.