News

News, analysis and updates on healthcare workers' free speech, regulator action against doctors and nurses who speak out about Palestine, and how to support them.
An open book with lines struck through in red pen, a red pen, a stethoscope and an olive sprig on a dark desk, symbolising a flawed definition and healthcare
The IHRA definition is failing. What would a fair definition protecting Palestinians from racism look like?
IHRA's own drafter, senior lawyers and over 100 human rights groups have warned about its flaws. How it can be challenged, and HWAC's draft definition of anti-Palestinianism. Read more...
A stethoscope on a wooden desk beside a microphone bound in tape and a gavel resting on a stack of papers, symbolising silenced professionals
Teachers warn of a chilling grip: what the Bell Review shares with Mann's NHS crackdown
The NEU says recommending IHRA for schools will chill classroom discussion of Gaza. Healthcare workers have heard this before, in Lord Mann's NHS and GMC review. Read more...
An old brass balance scale on a dark desk, one pan weighed down by a heavy stack of files and the other almost empty, with a stethoscope beside it
Weighed differently? A case-by-case look at how speech on Gaza is policed in UK healthcare
Pro-Palestine clinicians have faced suspensions, referrals and years of proceedings. What happened when colleagues made remarks about Palestinians or Muslims? We set out the reported cases side by side. Read more...
A small watermelon pin badge on the chest pocket of blue medical scrubs, with a stethoscope
A watermelon is not misconduct: why the NHS badge and scrubs rules go too far
The Mann review wants political badges off NHS uniforms and staff out of scrubs at some protests. Health workers say solidarity with Palestine is being singled out. HWAC agrees. Read more...
A stack of newspapers on a hospital trolley next to a stethoscope in an empty hospital corridor
Trial by tabloid: what the Daily Mail's 'NHS workers' exposé left in the small print
The Daily Mail's 10 October piece on five NHS workers was built on a campaign group's research. Its own small print shows referrals dismissed and a suspension lifted. HWAC responds. Read more...
A vintage microphone taped over beside a stethoscope, symbolising silenced healthcare workers
Who gets to speak? Campaign groups, regulator referrals and the doctors on the receiving end
UK Lawyers for Israel, the Campaign Against Antisemitism and GnasherJew have publicly pursued complaints against doctors over posts about Israel and Palestine. HWAC looks at the record and asks who... Read more...
A line of empty green and blue medical scrubs hanging outside a modern conference building
Empty scrubs in Rotterdam: health workers demand the WMA act on Palestinian colleagues
81 health workers hung up their scrubs outside the World Medical Association summit, each bearing the name of a detained Palestinian colleague. HWAC salutes them. Read more...
A tall stack of complaint files on a dark desk beside a stethoscope
780 complaints, 170 doctors: what the GMC's figures tell us about the pressure on clinicians
The GMC's own figures show most doctors complained about since October 2023 faced no regulatory action. Yet campaigners want more. HWAC asks what this torrent of complaints is doing to... Read more...
A judge's gavel resting on folded blue medical scrubs and a stethoscope in a dimly lit courtroom
Cleared, but not free: doctors vindicated over Gaza posts still face GMC appeals
Two doctors were cleared by independent tribunals over their speech on Israel and Palestine. The GMC is dragging both back through the courts. HWAC says: accept the verdicts and let... Read more...