The president of HCA Healthcare UK will remind all senior executives to ensure that the hospital dress code is applied at all of their sites. This follows an incident at the Harley Street Clinic, when multiple staff members were seen wearing large Palestine Flag badges.

UKLFI informed HCA about a disturbing incident when a Jewish patient was distressed to see that two of the three receptionists, as well as other staff members were wearing large Palestine Flag badges.  The badges demonstrated the staff members’  political support for Palestine,  and conversely, their opposition to the State of Israel.

The visitor to the Devonshire Diagnostic Centre at The Harley Street Clinic who reported these badges to UKLFI commented: “It is an utterly inappropriate use of a healthcare setting to push a specific and highly divisive political agenda.  It creates an environment in which it did not feel safe to be overtly Jewish, let alone associated with Israel in any way.”

UKLFI wrote to HCA about this incident, and pointed out how distressed the visitor was.  HCA was also likely to be breaching Section 29 (3) of the Equality Act 2010 by  creating a hostile and intimidating atmosphere in the hospital for Jewish and Israeli patients, and therefore harassing them.

John Reay, President and Chief Executive Officer of HCA told UKLFI: “I will remind all of our senior executives to ensure that our dress code policy is applied in all of our sites.”

UKLFI had previously reported a similar incident at HCA Harborne Hospital, Birmingham, in February 2025.  At the time the President had blamed the fact that the Harborne Hospital was a new site, and the staff had not been properly trained.   He said “We have reviewed our induction procedures. This is where I think the management team at a relatively new unit failed to place enough emphasis on the policy. We have ensured that the policy will be presented in a clear manner that cannot be misunderstood going forward.”

Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “We are pleased that HCA will remind staff at all sites not to wear these badges.  They can make Jewish patients very distressed at a time when they are feeling at their most vulnerable, in a clinic or hospital.”