An employment tribunal has ruled that County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust subjected seven female nurses to harassment by allowing a transgender colleague to use the women's changing facilities at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Judge Sweeney found that the trust violated the nurses' dignity and created a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment.
The nurses, led by Bethany Hutchison and backed by the Christian Legal Centre, objected to sharing the changing room with theatre practitioner Rose Henderson, a trans woman. The tribunal stated that the trust failed to take their concerns seriously, at one point suggesting the nurses needed education on trans rights, and later provided inadequate alternative facilities.
While the tribunal dismissed complaints about Henderson's conduct, describing her behaviour as proper, it acknowledged the nurses' genuine fears for their dignity, bodily integrity and privacy. Henderson expressed distress over online abuse following the case's public attention.
Following the ruling, Hutchison called it a victory for common sense, urging all NHS trusts to review their policies to protect women. Fellow claimant Lisa Lockey blamed the trust for putting Henderson in the situation and said women had been silenced and gaslighted. Ministers have not yet issued guidance on same-sex spaces, but the women urged faster action.
