NHS nurses take legal action after being ‘humiliated’ when being told to share changing room with trans colleague

A group of NHS nurses said they felt “humiliated” when they were forced out of their changing rooms after they complained about a trans colleague.

Five nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital have launched a legal case against their employer, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, following the incident.

Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy, Tracey Hooper and Joanne Bradbury have claimed that the trust ignored their concerns about sharing with Rose, a 26-year-old transgender woman.

The group, who have been dubbed the Darlington Five, have said that many of their fellow colleagues have been made to feel uncomfortable by the 26-year-old, who they claim has stared at their breasts and lingered in the room.

The Darlington Five said that certain women, especially those with religious values which prevent them from undressing around men and those with past trauma, felt extremely uncomfortable with the changing room setup.

Nurses at the hospital must change in and out of their scrubs twice a day with no private cubicles.

After reporting this to the trust, the women were offered a “temporary” locker room to change in instead, an experience that left them feeling “degraded and dehumanised”.

In a joint statement, the nurses said: “We continue to be appalled at how we and our female colleagues are being humiliated and dehumanised by the hospital and Trust.

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“Instead of listening and acting on our concerns and the public and media outcry, they have doubled down, putting transgender ideology before women’s safety.

“We were told the locker room would be ‘temporary’ until a solution was found. This locker room, however, does not appear to be temporary and no solution has been found.”

The new room initially had no facilities to store the nurse’s belongings in, and anyone can open the door if they have a press key lock.

“Changing in this room has made us feel humiliated, embarrassed, isolated, ostracised, degraded and dehumanised.”

The only other option of where the women could change would be a single occupancy cubicle, though it had been described as “claustrophobic” and is located in an area that patients can also use.

Writing to HR about their concerns, some 26 women were told via their ward manager that they should be ‘re-educated’, ‘broaden their mindset’ and be more ‘inclusive’.

The women said: “From the beginning we have always advocated for our male colleagues to be given dignified changing room space – we just do not believe that space should be in the female changing room.”

Responding to the nurses’ letter, a spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation trust said that the letter “acknowledges individuals’ rights to raise concerns and sets out our commitment to providing a safe, secure, and respectful working environment for all colleagues and emphasises that there are robust internal systems and policies in place for raising serious allegations involving the personal circumstances of individual colleagues, in a way that is fair and maintains confidentiality for all those involved”.

“We apologise if this letter has been interpreted differently and for any upset this may have caused.”

They went public with their case in June, which received support from many, including then-Shadow Health secretary Wes Streeting.

He posted online: “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 that treats people with respect and respects women’s safe spaces.”