An employment tribunal has delivered a landmark ruling, finding that a group of NHS nurses were subjected to harassment after raising concerns about a transgender colleague using female-only changing facilities.
The Core of the Dispute
Eight members of the Day Surgery Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital brought a claim against their employer, the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. The case centred on the trust's decision to allow Rose Henderson, a colleague who identifies as a woman, to use the women's changing rooms.
In a judgment handed down on Friday 16 January 2026, Employment Judge Seamus Sweeney stated the trust had subjected the claimants to harassment related to both sex and gender reassignment. The ruling was clear: by permitting their "biological male, trans woman colleague to use the female changing room" and requiring the nurses to share that space without offering suitable alternatives, the trust had violated its duty of care.
A Hostile and Intimidating Environment
The tribunal found the harassment extended beyond the physical sharing of space. Judge Sweeney stated the trust further harassed the nurses by failing to take their concerns seriously. This included suggestions that the claimants needed "to be educated on trans rights and to broaden their mindsets."
Later attempts to provide alternative changing facilities for those who objected were deemed "inadequate and unsuitable" by the tribunal. The cumulative effect of this conduct, the judge concluded, was to violate the dignity of the eight nurses and create "a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment for them."
Proceedings and Aftermath
The tribunal hearings took place in Newcastle last year, with evidence presented by the nursing staff, the trust, and Rose Henderson. The panel adjourned in November 2025 to consider its findings before delivering the final ruling.
The claim was led by Darlington nurse Bethany Hutchison. She, along with fellow claimants Annice Grundy, Lisa Lockey, Karen Danson, Tracey Hooper, and three other colleagues, stood outside the Civil and Family Courts and Tribunals Centre in Newcastle following the proceedings.
This ruling highlights the complex challenges facing employers in balancing the rights of transgender staff with those of other employees in single-sex spaces, setting a significant precedent for future workplace discrimination cases within the NHS and beyond.
