Wes Streeting’s war on NHS diversity doesn’t go far enough

When America sneezes, Britain catches a cold. Luckily for us, we have Wes Streeting on hand with the tissues. Within days of Donald Trump signing an executive order putting a stop to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes across the US government, our own Health Secretary has diagnosed the NHS as suffering from a similarly bad case of DEI-itis. There are ‘some really daft things being done in the name of equality, diversity and inclusion’, Streeting declared this week.

Speaking at an event on Tuesday organised by Macmillan Cancer Support, Streeting bemoaned the fact that genuine health inequalities were being undermined by ‘ideological hobby horses’. He cited the example of a social media post advertising a placement for counselling or psychotherapy trainees. The doctor, who shared the post and will be supervising the new recruits, noted that she takes an ‘anti-whiteness’ approach to her clinical work.