Lord Mann Review into tackling racism and antisemitism in the NHS

On 4 June 2026 Lord Mann published his review into tackling racism and antisemitism within the NHS - with recommendations to support our shared goal of making our services safe for all patients, communities and colleagues.

Just like wider society, the NHS is not immune to the persistent and systemic challenges of all forms of racism (including antisemitism and Islamophobia), discrimination and inequality, and we all have much more to do.

Lord Mann’s review set out a range of recommendations for NHS organisations and leaders. Collectively, these measures aim to:

• strengthen leadership and accountability,
• improve understanding and capability through training and development,
• set clear expectations regarding political identifiers and inclusive practice,
• improve and standardise support and protection for staff who experience racism,
• improve the consistency, quality and application of data relating to racism. 

These recommendations will help NHS organisations strengthen the way we drive change and focus on ensuring that Cheshire and Merseyside is a place of compassion, care and unity – not conflict or discrimination. Achieving this requires us all to be honest about the challenges we face and take strong action to address them.

Tackling all forms of racism within the NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside will require a joined-up, concerted effort at every level – and we should all be acutely aware of the racial abuse and harassment our colleagues and patients are subject to.

Antisemitism and all forms of racism have no place in the NHS. Patients should never feel anxious when receiving care and no member of staff should ever feel isolated, intimidated or unwelcome in their workplace.

The Lord Mann review gives us the opportunity to raise our standards and expectations about what we will accept and put our professional values of care, compassion and clinical excellence first.

Our Board will consider the following actions linked to the recommendations of the Lord Mann review;

• Signing up to the NHS Race and Health Observatory Seven Anti-Racism Principles.
• Ensuring implementation of the Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard in Cheshire and Merseyside. 
• Ensuring all staff have completed the NHS Core Skills Framework module on Equality, Diversity and Human Rights (EDHR), which includes content on antisemitism and Islamophobia.
• Ensuring all staff complete the new bitesize module co-created with faith leaders in the NHS when it becomes available (with the exception of those who have completed EDHR mandatory training in the last 6 months).
• Ensuring Board agreement to undertake new anti-racism training when it becomes available.
• Ensuring our Board and committees fully understand our staff survey data on the experience of racism in our organisation, take appropriate action on key problem areas related to this issue and monitor progress.

As part of our commitment to become an Anti-Racist organisation, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB also intends to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and the Government definition of anti-Muslim hostility.

We will keep our staff, partners, patients and communities updated regarding our response to the recommendations of the Lord Mann Review, and our actions to address antisemitism and all forms of racism in the ICB and wider Cheshire and Merseyside health system.