Christian nurse Jennifer Melle has called upon the government to issue and enforce clear guidance across the NHS to ensure that medical staff are no longer sanctioned for their beliefs about gender and sex.
Melle hit the headlines after she was suspended following an incident with a female-identifying male patient, who was also a convicted paedophile. When Melle referred to the patient using male terminology the patient allegedly became aggressive and began racially abusing her.
Eventually an internal hearing cleared Melle of any wrongdoing, although she remained at risk of being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for being a “possible risk to the public”. Last week, however, the NMC confirmed that Melle had “no case to answer”.
In a letter to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson and health minister Karin Smyth, Melle asked why private affirmations of support had not translated into concrete action.
“If ministers are correct that no nurse should be compelled to use preferred pronouns, why was I subjected to such extensive disciplinary and regulatory action in the first place? Why was I reported as a potential risk to the public? Why was I suspended from my role? Why did it take years of investigations before common sense prevailed?” she wrote.
Melle said that ministers should issue clear national guidance that would ensure the protection of freedom of religion and belief for NHS workers. In addition, NHS workers should not be sanctioned for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of patients.
In a separate statement, Melle said that her months-long ordeal should never have happened in the first place.
“I was doing my job in a pressured clinical situation. Biological sex was relevant to patient care and I was trying to communicate clearly and safely with another medical professional. I was not trying to humiliate anyone," she said.
“At our meeting in Parliament, ministers told me that no nurse should be forced to use preferred pronouns or punished for refusing to say something they believe is untrue. But the policies being enforced in NHS Trusts and by regulators say something very different."
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has been supporting Melle, said, “The government must now act. It is not enough for ministers privately to reassure nurses that they should not be punished. They must issue clear national guidance to every NHS Trust and regulator making plain that Christian nurses, and all healthcare professionals, cannot be coerced into speaking against their conscience or disciplined for recognising biological reality.
“Jennifer’s courage has exposed a system that has lost its way. The government must ensure that no other nurse is put through what she has endured.”
