Streeting vows to suspend antisemitic doctors after medic who praised October 7 attacks avoids suspension
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan was free to continue working despite concerns about her behaviour - including claims that the Holocaust was a "fabricated victim narrative"- being raised at a tribunal last month
Wes Streeting says antisemitic doctors will be suspended before facing a tribunal, after a junior medic escaped punishment despite making “slit your throat” gestures to Jewish protesters.
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The Health Secretary has drawn up new measures to root out racism in the NHS after Dr Rahmeh Aladwan was free to continue working despite concerns about her behaviour - including claims that the Holocaust was a "fabricated victim narrative"- being raised at a tribunal last month.
But The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) refused to take action against the medic, and on Tuesday she uploaded a string of antisemitic posts on the two-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
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She described the 2023 massacre, where Hamas terrorists killed almost 1,200 Jews, as "the day 'israel' was humiliated".
After these posts were revealed, the General Medical Council (GMC) announced it was conducting a fitness to practise investigation into the doctor, but would not be taking any action against her until the hearing took place on October 23.
The decision led Mr Streeting to claim he had "no confidence"in the regulator and was “furious with the glacial pace the system operates at”.
He also described Dr Aladwan's comments as "sickening".
As part of the new plans, doctors referred for investigation over their conduct, such as for antisemitic remarks, could be immediately suspended pending the outcome.
A Department of Health source said it was “ridiculous that medics are free to continue operating with impunity until a tribunal can be held”.
The GMC said it was seeking to have Dr Aladwan, who is of British-Palestinian heritage, suspended amid an ongoing investigation.
It has also ordered an Interim Orders Tribunal, where a panel will assess whether a suspension or restrictions on her employment “are necessary to protect the public or public confidence in doctors during an investigation”.
At last months tribunal, the GMC's allegations were heard alongside concerns from the public, who accused Dr Aladwan of anti-semitism.
On July 30, Dr Aladwan claimed that the Royal Free Hospital in north London, which serves a large Jewish community, was a “Jewish supremacy cesspit”.
But the MPTS panel allowed for her to continue working for the NHS because she had a “right to freedom of expression”.
On Tuesday, Dr Aladwan condoned the October 7 attack on Israel, saying it was “glory to the breaking of the 17 year long illegal siege”, and claiming it was “officially 2 years of a holocaust”.
She also wrote: “The day ‘israel’ was humiliated. Their supremacy shattered at the hands of the children they forced out of their homes. The children who watched foreign jews execute their loved ones, rape their land, and live on their stolen soil.”
Mr Streeting said: "Sickening comments like these have no place in the NHS, and action needs to be taken to root the evil of racism out. The NHS is a universal health system that everyone should feel safe approaching if they need care, regardless of race, creed or religion.
"The current medical regulatory system is completely failing to protect patients and NHS staff, so I am looking at how we can rapidly overhaul the current regime to make it easier to kick racists out of the NHS."
The MPTS will once again make the decision about Dr Aladwan's future on October 23, as it is supposed to independently assess cases sent to it by the medical regulator.
Whilst conducting its investigation, the GMC had asked the tribunal to implement a 12-month interim restriction on Dr Aladwan's ability to practise following her comments.
It is now seeking this again via a separate hearing over continued fears that she presents a risk to the public.
Dr Aladwan has also said she would “never condemn the 7th of October”, and that the number of “proven rapes on October 7 is zero”, despite evidence that rapes took place at the Nova music festival site.
Separately, Dr Aladwan called two Palestinian gunmen who carried out a fatal bus shooting “martyrs”.
She told the MPTS hearing last month that all the social media posts were “legitimate and can be defended and reasoned”.
The medic told the panel that more than 50 of her friends had died during the conflict in Gaza, which she described as a “genocide” and a “holocaust”.