Doubling of Cases of Anti-Muslim Hate Recorded by Tell MAMA Between 2024 and 2025
Tell MAMA has recorded a significant rise in anti-Muslim incidents within National Health Service (NHS) settings, with reported cases nearly doubling between 2024 and 2025.
Cases reported to Tell MAMA indicate this upward trajectory has shown no signs of easing throughout 2026, signaling a deeply concerning, normalised hostility within healthcare environments.
What is Taking Place?
A direct breakdown of healthcare-specific incidents reported to Tell MAMA shows a compounding year-on-year increase:
- 2024: 37 verified incidents recorded.
- 2025: 71 verified incidents recorded (a 92% surge over the previous year).
- 2026 (Jan-Jun): 29 verified incidents recorded between January and June alone.
- Note: Mid-year data demonstrates that the elevated baseline established during the peak periods of 2025 is actively persisting into the current calendar year.
These figures encompass a broad spectrum of hostile behaviors, including targeted verbal abuse, systemic discrimination, and targeted harassment. The incidents occurred across diverse healthcare settings, ranging from local GP surgeries and outpatient clinics to acute hospital wards and emergency departments, and victimised Muslim patients, visiting families, and frontline NHS staff alike.
A Crisis in Places of Care
The following is a statement given to Tell MAMA by someone targeted by anti-Muslim hatred in an NHS setting:
“I chose medicine to protect and care for people when they need it most. When I called his name, my only thought was how to help him. Having my faith weaponised against me in front of a crowded room was deeply degrading. At that moment he pointed at my headscarf (hijab) and called me a ‘terrorist’ and the entire waiting area fell silent. Everyone stared.
“Suddenly, the years of studying and exhausting shifts meant nothing; I wasn’t seen as a doctor, but as a threat. The raw hatred in his voice, suggesting that my headscarf somehow made me dangerous to the very patients I am dedicated to serving, stripped away my sense of safety and professional identity in seconds.” – NHS Doctor and Employee – 2026
Tell MAMA’s Director, Iman Att OBE said:
“Hospitals and GP surgeries should be places of safety and care for everyone, regardless of faith. These figures show that anti-Muslim prejudice is following people into some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, and that is unacceptable. We are calling on NHS trusts to take this data seriously and to strengthen reporting pathways and staff training so that both patients and healthcare workers are properly protected.”
Tell MAMA continues to collaborate closely with UK police forces, NHS leadership bodies, and localised community partners to support victims, demand accountability for perpetrators, and enforce structural changes across the public sector.
Read More: Greatest Rise in Reported Anti-Muslim Hate Cases to Tell MAMA Since October 7th.