Darlington hospital violated trans complaint nurses’ dignity, tribunal rules

Hospital bosses violated the dignity of a group of female nurses who complained about a transgender woman using their changing room, an employment tribunal has found.

Eight nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital claimed they had been “penalised” by managers for objecting to Rose Henderson, a biological male who identifies as a woman, using the single-sex space.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust claimed the nurses had “demonised” their colleague and the policy was in accordance with guidelines at the time.

In a partial victory for the nurses, the employment panel said the trust had created a “hostile environment”, but other elements of their claim were unfounded.

The nurses, who were supported in their claim by Christian Concern, said the ruling was a “massive vindication” and “victory for common sense”.

The tribunal, held in Newcastle in October and November, had heard Rose, an operating department practitioner who would be referred to by first name in the proceedings, had used the changing room since 2019.

Complaints were first made by female nurses from the day surgery unit (DSU) in August 2023.

The trust’s Transitioning in the Workplace policy allowed a person to use the single-sex space that conformed with their gender identity, and anyone of that sex who objected could change elsewhere.

Some 26 nurses signed a letter complaining of Rose’s use of and conduct within the changing room, with Rose telling the tribunal the allegations, which included staring at women getting undressed, were “false”.

In their 134-page judgement, the panel of three headed by employment judge Seamus Sweeney said the trust had harassed and discriminated against the nurses by requiring them to share a changing room with a “biological male trans woman” and then not taking their concerns seriously.

But the panel found the nurse’s allegations about Rose Henderson’s conduct in the changing room to be “not well founded” and dismissed them, along with claims the women had been victimised.

The judgement said the trust’s policy had an “admirable and noble purpose”, but it had the effect of “violating the dignity” of the nurses and of “creating for them a hostile, humiliating and degrading environment”.

When the nurses raised their concerns, they “genuinely felt they were not being taken seriously” and were “being in essence fobbed off by senior management and seen as trouble-makers”, the panel said.

At no point did anyone in management or the trust’s HR department “seriously consider” how their policy “might constitute some form of discrimination against female employees”, the judgement said.

The panel also concluded the nurses were “correct in their belief” that management was “not going to address the core issue”, which was the use of the female changing room by a “biological male trans woman”.

Similarly, asking Rose to change elsewhere was “never on the cards” for managers, even though the “stark numerical reality” was that some 300 women used the changing room and Rose was the only trans person.

Asking Rose to change somewhere else would have been “reasonable and feasible”, the panel said.

Instead, a small cubicle adjoining a meeting room was converted into a changing room for those that complained.

Also, an HR manager told the nurses to “broaden their minds”, which “served to highlight to the nurses that they were not being taken seriously” and reinforced “the feeling they were seen as transphobic or bigoted”, the panel said.

The trust’s policy was withdrawn in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that ruled the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex, the panel said.

Speaking after the judgement was released, Bethany Hutchison, one of the nurses, said it was a “victory for common sense” and a “turning point”.

She said women deserved access to single-sex spaces “without fear or intimidation” and the trust’s policy had been “degrading” and “dangerous”.

Ms Hutchison said she was “absolutely delighted” with the judgement, which was a “massive vindication”, and the ruling “showed we were in the right the whole time”.

Her colleague Lisa Lockey said organisations needed to “listen to women”.

We have experienced such a silencing, we weren’t allowed to complain and were gas-lighted by our trust,” she said.

She was made to feel like a “terrible person” for “having the audacity to complain”, she added.

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said the organisation was “taking time to review the judgement” and would comment further “once we have had the opportunity to consider it in full”.

Rose has been approached for comment.