The health secretary has confirmed that the NHS will issue new rules banning staff from wearing political badges. 

It follows the government accepting all of the recommendations of an independent review into the NHS in the health service by Labour peer Lord Mann.

Asked about the policy, James Murray told broadcasters: “The truth is that when you have a situation where political views can be brought into the NHS, that can cause Jewish patients to think twice about whether to go to the NHS for their treatment, that’s what we want to bring to an end.

“And so we’ve asked the NHS to produce updated uniform guidance, which makes clear that political symbols, symbols of political views, should not be brought to work because it should be a safe space in the NHS where everyone in our country, everyone who is Jewish and can go and use the NHS without any concern, without any second thought about whether they can do that, or not, and that we make sure that NHS staff who are Jewish and from any other backgrounds also likewise feel completely safe and don’t have a second thought about whether to come to work.”

Asked when this will come into force, Murray replied that new uniform guidance will be “published shortly”.

Challenged that some NHS staff might have a problem with this, he said: “I think people in the NHS are fundamentally committed to delivering patient care to everyone right across the country on an equal basis.”