An NHS hospital trust has vowed to investigate a nurse after she was photographed wearing her pink scrubs at a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Jo Jo Forsythe, a phlebotomist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, was identified after being photographed and videoed in her uniform at the demonstration – breaking NHS rules on uniform guidance.
Ms Forsythe was photographed at the latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London last Saturday wearing a pink nurse’s uniform, an NHS lanyard hanging on a Palestine thread, a Palestine keffiyeh and multiple ‘free Palestine’ badges.
The back of her outfit bore her name Jo Jo.
This was despite NHS rules saying scrubs should not be worn outside the hospital environment and that staff should not wear numerous badges.
The NHS guidance also states: ‘The way staff dress is an important influence on people’s overall perceptions of the standards of care they experience.’
Ms Forsythe was photographed by the X (formerly Twitter) pro-Israel activist account called Stop The Hate and identified by a second group @GnasherJew which also found video of her as part of a crowd which was singing ‘Zionists are not welcome here’.
‘Since the October 7 massacre, actions by some healthcare professionals and others in various sectors have fuelled discrimination against Jews,’ the anonymous GnasherJew group told in a statement.
‘Over the past year, we have received numerous reports of Jewish staff and patients experiencing both direct and indirect discrimination within the NHS, affecting their ability to receive equal treatment simply because they identify as Jewish.
NHS staff publicly shouting, ‘Zionists are not welcome here’ on the streets of London is not a political statement – it is discrimination against the majority of Jews who identify as Zionists. This disturbing pattern is happening far too often to ignore.’
A spokesperson for the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust revealed to it was investigating Ms Forsythe’s behaviour saying: ‘We are following up on issues raised in social media posts made over the weekend.’
At the same demonstration, a group represented Homerton Hospital demanding sanctions against Israel and ‘an end to the genocide’ while at a demonstration in Leeds, it appeared other NHS workers were demonstrating in their scrubs.
It also comes just days after Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisted ‘There’s no place for antisemitism in our NHS.’
The NHS spends around £40 million a year on DEI initiatives which are meant to stamp out racism in the workplace.
The General Medical Council announced earlier this year that the number of complaints about doctors subjecting Jewish colleagues to antisemitic abuse after October 7 jumped from eight to 60.
According to one poll, three quarters of Jewish healthcare workers have suffered at least one antisemitic incident since October 7- and half reported feeling unsafe at work.
Dave Rich, an antisemitism expert who works at the Community Security Trust – a charity which is backed by the Home Office to provide security to British Jews – said growing antisemitism within the health service was leading to discrimination.
He added: ‘I’ve heard numerous stories over the past year of Jewish staff or service users being directly or indirectly discriminated against, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes without their knowledge, but always in a way that impacts their ability to be treated equally while identifying as Jewish.’
The investigation into her behaviour comes amid growing claims of an antisemitism problem within the NHS with a slew of doctors under investigation or suspended for posting either antisemitic comments or pro Hamas social media posts.
This includes Northwick Park Hospital surgeon Dr Manoj Sen being sacked for sharing social media posts which included the comment, ‘the Jews are our misfortune’ and calling another user ‘Jewboy’ and ‘circumcised vermin’; Kingston Hospital doctor Daniel Nava Rodrigues being investigated for writing on X, ‘Dead and/or suffering Israelis are the only thing that brightens the day’; and Dr Asif Munaf, a former contestant on The Apprentice being suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC) for a series of antisemitic outbursts.