Political badges should be banned from NHS uniforms

[Ihatetomatoes]

New report says political badges such as Pro Palestine shouldn't be worn on NHS uniforms. It's led to increased antisemitism and fear amongst Jewish patients.

Also NHS uniforms not to be worn on protests.

This report makes a number of suggestions and in my opinion must be implemented. All political badges off NHS uniforms. No NHS uniforms on protests such as pro Palestine. It contributes to racism and fear.

The NHS should treat all patients equally and individuals political opinions shouldn't be pinned on their uniforms.

None of this is relevant to a healthcare setting.

People in a healthcare setting go there to be treated. They do not go there to engage with other people's views.

So it’s okay for people to be made uncomfortable at a medical consultation for no better reason than the healthcare professional wants to show their political views?

If I go to a doctor then I just want them to do their job. I don’t want to know their views on political issues.

How is a Jewish person mean to feel if their doctor is wearing a badge saying ‘free Palestine’?

Or a woman who has gone for a consultation about something sex based when their doctor has rainbow badges/the trans flag etc?

Or, as someone upthread mentioned, a Russian person seeing the Ukraine flag being displayed by that doctor?

The only people who have no issue with it are those whose political views align with that medical professional.

And if you were Jewish, would you feel the same?

Or if someone displayed a pro-Israel symbol, would you be fine with that?

I didn't know people did this. It's very inappropriate at work and I am assuming mine wouldn't allow it (local authority employer but a healthcare setting)
I do wear charity pins on my lanyard though. I have an NSPCC one, a poppy, Pudsey bear, a Marie curie daffodil, Alzheimer's society forget me not and currently a rainbow pin for pride month.

Agree it's unprofessional,I don't need to know your views on politics or sexuality or veganism or religion ,,treat ppl kindly fairly and with respect and leave your private beliefs at home.

Like they are being treated by a human being?

The Jewish person may be one of the many who oppose the current extremist Israeli government or even go on marches.

The woman may be queer, or have a queer sibling or parent or child.

Why is everyone so very afraid nowadays? We need to rebuild confidence that we treat each other with humanity and also do not hide the differences that make us human.

I thought they already would be forbidden. They are a publicly funded service and must be seen to be neutral and purely focussed on care and health of their patients. It's true if someone had the opposite belief/was visibly a different religion/race they might fear ill treatment from the badge wearer.

I remember an NVQ assessor came into my workplace once to assess the young IT guy. He was wearing a UKIP badge and I got a sudden concern he might treat the lad unfairly as he was obviously from a non UK background.

I think I might have been mistaken in that case. But you just don't want to speculate that someone might treat people unequally.

There are leading Jewish thinkers on freedom of expression! And shining examples of Jewish leadership in political protest down the ages. Stop stereotyping Jews as conservative and afraid and all identical and wanting protection at any cost.

The important thing is that they are being treated by a medical professional. That's what they're there to do. The patient needs to be treated in a respectful and professional way.

People's position on these matters may be very complex / nuanced. It is not in anyway helpful to go parading all your own opinions when they are totally irrelevant to the matter in hand

Well, this opens the question of equity rather thn equality...

I felt a lot better when dealing abroad with doctors with various religious symbols. Not always my religion but they were grounded and happy in a system of belief wider than the individual.

And maybe the Jewish person had seen how their family and friends are being treated in the UK right now.

Being treated in a medical setting by someone who is so set on imposing their politics is a negative thing. Go and protest on your own time.

And maybe the woman is concerned that someone who has the trans flag is incapable of understanding simple biology and doesn’t know the difference between men and women.

I refused certain screening for too many years because of this ideology - now anything that has been picked up is quite likely to be fairly advanced. But I guess people don’t have a right to live, as long as someone’s right to virtue signal is preserved, am I right?

But you're putting the balance towards freedom of political expression among staff as NHS workers (ie not private individuals) being more important than patients being able to access health services confidently? That seems odd to me. The raison d'etre of the health service is that patients can access it. If that is threatened by the actions of staff it suggests the balance has gone way out of whack.

And I don’t care if people want to wear religious symbols - go for it.

Political statements are different.

No I am talking about a social shift away from repression and towards trust.

Why would you need a symbol to reassure you about a Drs person life. Drs personal lives are not your responsibility.

And people will withdraw from services, despite the assumption they won’t, and it will ultimately cost people their lives.

Nobody is disadvantaged by being able to be treated by someone with no political signals.

But in the specific context of the health service, that will have a very different balance than in society more widely, won't it?

I hate those the most. I know it's mainly a Lgbtq thing, but anyone can wear one - a child seeing that and thinking that's a safe adult to approach, just no.
As for the other political stuff, as someone who is in hospital a lot, it does give me a heads up on that person. But at the same time other staff can feel pressured into wearing rainbow lanyards etc. Really the workplace is no place for this type of thing, I'm not a fan of the bring your whole self to work concept.

No one is being repressed. We are talking about cultivating professionalism in a work environment

I do not feel safer under censorship and I know my doctors are human.

If I have to work with a rabid misogynist, I can work with him professionally although we disagree.

The trust needs to be in the actual job being done.

The love and tolerance, for human variety.

Nor me - whatever happened to being professional?

The rainbow thing has been hijacked by the trans lobby with their own agenda. Nobody had to show a flag to signal they weren’t homophobic.

I question that definition of professionalism as repressive.

If the rabid misogynist is a medical professional who thinks that saying you are a woman makes it so, then I don’t want them within a mile of my genitals as I don’t have faith in their medical abilities.

You are trying to show how super tolerant you are.

I can deal professionally on a level with someone wearing one of those. But being a patient is automatically a different power dynamic.

In that case it is clear that you don't know what professionalism means. I'm not trying to be patronising or anything, but are you very young?