Summary

My name is Dr Nadeem Crowe. I’m a British Jordanian doctor specialising in emergency medicine, serving for many years as a bank worker in one of the UK’s most prestigious NHS hospitals. On 14th August 2024, during an emergency medicine shift, I was suspended from employment by the medical director of the Royal Free London NHS Trust with immediate effect and without being provided any reason. Events since that day have raised two legal questions of profound importance to the UK healthcare system and wider British liberties:

1. Do British healthcare workers have the right to speak up about war crimes which include the systematic destruction of Gaza’s entire healthcare infrastructure and torture of Palestinian healthcare workers?

2. Can NHS employers deny basic employment rights to more than 150,000 bank workers employed by the NHS in England?

Background

VIDEO: Dr. Nadeem Crowe speaks about the disciplinary action taken against him by the Royal Free Hospital, in relation to "potentially upsetting posts about the Israel - Gaza conflict." This included instant suspension during a shift and no evidence provided during an "informal meeting."

Having asked my healthcare colleagues whether there was a patient safety issue which required my immediate suspension, and with no explanation of the reasons for being suspended, I was forced to leave my emergency shift without notice and in great embarrassment. I was then summoned to an "informal" disciplinary meeting, and for the first time I was provided a vague reason for my suspension: “potentially upsetting” social media posts on Twitter X regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict. 

I was denied access to the complaint against me or to the posts which had raised concerns. I was specifically told that I was not being accused of antisemitism, however I was advised to: 

"Bring a specialist on the conflict to advise what is acceptable."

Having been denied information about which specific Twitter X posts had raised concerns, I felt forced to deactivate my Twitter X account entirely. I was then permitted to return to work, but advised against lodging a complaint regarding my treatment. I subsequently resigned from my post at the hospital as I didn’t feel able to continue working there under the circumstances.

Since then, the Royal Free London NHS Trust has disregarded and refused to engage with my formal grievance, with a legal letter or with my efforts to resolve the matter through an ACAS Early Conciliation process. The very applicability of NHS Trust policies has been questioned due to the lack of clarity around my employment status as a Bank Worker. NHS England has refused to engage constructively regarding the way I’ve been treated by my NHS employer or the wider issues it raises. I have therefore decided to lodge a complaint at employment tribunal.

Why does it matter?

The Royal Free London NHS Trust’s disciplinary policy states that it does not apply to bank staff. If that is true, it seriously damages my employment rights and the rights of all bank workers employed by the Royal Free Hospital. Just like the Chris Day case, NHS lawyers are cynically using employment status to avoid dealing with serious issues. Bearing in mind that the NHS in England employs over 150,000 bank workers, my employment rights have serious implications for healthcare provision throughout the country and need to be clarified by a court of law. 

I’m a medical doctor, I’m deeply committed to human life and healthcare, and I’m arguing that I have a right to speak up against the war crimes committed by Israel. These war crimes include the purposeful destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system. As a healthcare professional, I’m trained to provide the highest level of care to all patients without discrimination, and I do not accept the proposal that my publicly-stated opposition to Israel’s war crimes in Gaza has any bearing on my delivery of care to my patients. Again, this is an important legal question for healthcare workers which now needs to be clarified by an employment judge.

I’m also a British Arab expressing pro-Palestinian views on social media in a personal capacity. Senior British healthcare leaders have expressed pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian views in a professional capacity on NHS websites without incurring any penalty or even criticism by healthcare authorities. I believe this is discriminatory and denies my protected beliefs under the Equality Act.

"The Equality Act 2010 is a law that protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in society. It prohibits discrimination based on a number of protected characteristics, including age, disability, gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation."

Health Workers 4 Palestine, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians and other organisations have raised concerns about the widespread targeting of healthcare workers who speak out against Israel’s war crimes. While some of these complaints arise from genuine and deplorable antisemitism, the vast majority do not meet the threshold for investigation by UK medical regulators. Nevertheless, the sheer number of complaints has resulted in a chilling effect throughout the healthcare sector. If I receive enough funding from CrowdJustice donors, alongside my personal legal battle, I plan to work with Health Workers 4 Palestine to commission an authoritative expert legal opinion which we will submit to the Department of Health, NHS England and UK healthcare regulators, and which can be referred to by other healthcare workers who are targeted by NHS managers.

What can you do?

I’m being represented by Liana Wood at Leigh Day – described by Legal 500 as a team of ‘fearless lawyers and very creative thinkers’ and noted as ‘the best in the country’ by clients of its employment legal team. We need your help to maximise our chances of turning this into a landmark legal victory.

Please donate and be part of this groundbreaking legal campaign - your generous donations are hugely appreciated and will go entirely to legal costs.

Please share this CrowdJustice page.

Please tweet messages in support with hashtag #HWrights4palestine. You can find me on @NadimHCr.