DR MAX PEMBERTON: I've been horrified by the riots but being racist should not mean you don't get treatment on the NHS

DR MAX PEMBERTON: I've been horrified by the riots but being racist should not mean you don't get treatment on the NHS By Dr Max Pemberton Published: 16:45 BST, 11 August 2024 | Updated: 16:47 BST, 11 August 2024 e-mail View comments The shocking case of two Filipino nurses attacked during the unrest in Sunderland last week prompted the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting , to announce that those who are racist to NHS staff ‘can and should’ be refused care. While I agree with Streeting that those who attacked the nurses ‘brought enormous shame on our country’, when it comes to turning patients away, I couldn’t disagree with him more: it is not up to the doctor to make a moral judgment over who can and can’t have treatment. Like Streeting, I was horrified by the scenes in Sunderland.

It beggars belief that good, kind and caring people trying to get to work to help others should be subjected to such abuse. But being racist should not mean you don’t get treatment on the NHS. Over the 20 years I’ve been a doctor, I have come across many instances of patients being racist, homophobic or misogynistic.

Some have expressed truly vile beliefs. While I wouldn’t say it’s regular, it’s certainly not uncommon. I’ve treated murderers, rapists, paedophiles and terrorists.

But it’s a slippery slope to start standing in moral judgment over who can and can’t have treatment because of what they believe. Read More DR MAX PEMBERTON: How to fix the NHS? Sack slackers and ta.