Seven female nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital have won an employment tribunal case against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, after the trust allowed a trans woman colleague to use the women's changing rooms. The tribunal found the trust violated the nurses' dignity and created a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment.
The nurses objected to Rose Henderson, a trans woman and operating theatre practitioner, using the female changing facilities. Judge Sweeney ruled that the trust subjected the nurses to harassment related to sex and gender reassignment by permitting Henderson to use the changing room and requiring the nurses to share it without providing suitable alternatives.
The tribunal also found that the trust failed to take the nurses' concerns seriously, instead suggesting they needed education on trans rights and providing inadequate alternative facilities. However, complaints about Henderson's conduct were dismissed as not well-founded, with the judge noting she did not behave improperly while using the changing room.
Lead claimant Bethany Hutchison, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, called the ruling a 'victory for common sense' and urged all NHS trusts to review their policies. Co-claimant Lisa Lockey expressed compassion for Henderson, blaming the trust for putting her in that situation, and said women had been silenced and gaslighted.
The nurses hope the ruling will prompt faster government guidance on same-sex spaces, with Hutchison stating ministers are 'dragging their feet'. The Christian Legal Centre's chief executive said the case makes clear that biological men are men and women are women, and that NHS policy should recognise this.
