Darlington Memorial Hospital Nurses. Cred: Christian Concern
Nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital have spoken publicly for the first time about sharing female spaces with ‘trans’ colleagues.
This follows the launch of a “landmark” legal challenge against health trust chiefs over a ‘trans woman’ being allowed to use female changing rooms.
A group of nurses from County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust (CDDFT) have lodged an employment tribunal case for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment.
Five of the nurses, from Darlington Memorial Hospital’s Day Surgery department, have spoken out publicly for the first time since the action was launched against the trust.
Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy, Tracey Hooper and Joanne Bradbury have decided to speak publicly as they believe the Trust is hoping controversy will “blow over”.
A spokesperson for CDDFT has said that “work continues” on their internal investigation into the issue.
The group has put in claims on harassment, indirect discrimination, and breach of nurses’ ECHR article eight rights (the right to privacy).
The case is believed to be unprecedented, meaning it could be a landmark ruling in employment law.
‘Changing room policy has not changed’
Following the anonymous release of this story last month, the nurses say that changing room policy has not changed.
The group added that they have felt ‘threatened and intimidated’ by interactions with HR at the hospital, and say that they now fear for their jobs.
The nurses say that currently, CDDFT policies permit any member of staff to identify as the opposite gender and to access single-sex changing rooms, toilets or showers on that basis.
In March 2024, a letter was signed by 26 nurses and sent to the Director of Workforce at the NHS Foundation Trust.
In the letter, the nurses said they did not believe it “appropriate” to have a “biological male sharing our changing facilities”.
Recognising that the Trust has a duty to support transgender staff they added, however, that that is ‘not absolute’.
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‘Women’s spaces must be protected’
Spokesperson for the group, Bethany Hutchison said: ‘We want women to be aware that there are transgender policies, particularly in the NHS, that are putting us at risk.
‘This cannot be right, and we want a change in policy, not only at our hospital but across the NHS and wider society.
“The meetings we have had at the hospital have been threatening and intimidating. To say we need educating when staff have multiple degrees was deeply insulting and demonstrates a failure of care towards female staff.
“We will pursue this matter for as long as it takes to ensure women’s spaces are protected.’
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Shadow Health Secretary reponds
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he is ‘horrified’ that NHS nurses had to resort to legal action after being forced to share a changing room with a man identifying as a woman.
‘I support the nurses and I’m horrified that they’ve had to resort to legal action. We’ve got to find a better way through this and I’d be happy to meet them. We’ve got to find a way through that treats trans people with respect and respects women’s safe spaces’, he added.
Responding to Mr Streeting, Conservative MP, Miriam Cates, said: ‘We don’t need a ‘better way through’. We just need to uphold the rules and boundaries – based on the realities of biology and human nature – that all societies throughout all history have upheld. Men are not allowed in women’s intimate spaces. That is where it begins and ends.
Meanwhile, J.K Rowling wrote on x: ‘The nurses who are suing County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust for letting a trans identified man watch them change. The women and girls being robbed of sporting opportunities. It’s endless.’
The Bible says,
Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
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READ: Gen 1:27, 4:26; Deut 30:19; Josh 7:10-11; 1Sam 2:30; Eccl 11:5; Esther 4:14b; Prov 14:12;Matt 9:12; Mark 12:30-31; Ephesians 6:4; 1 Corinth 1:28-29
PRAY: Thank God for the lives of these Nurses who have spoken up courageously.
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