An NHS Trust has finally changed its staff changing room policy following a three-year legal battle brought by female nurses supported by the Christian Legal Centre.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has amended its Uniform and Dress Code Policy to require staff to use changing facilities according to their biological sex.
The revised policy states: "In accordance with UK Supreme Court ruling (2025), staff must use changing spaces according to their biological sex. Alternative unisex changing spaces are provided for staff who choose not to use an alternative facility."
It follows an employment tribunal ruling in favour of seven nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital who objected to having to share a changing room with a transgender colleague.
Bethany Hutchison, president of the Darlington Nursing Union and lead claimant in the case, said the policy change had come at an enormous personal cost to the women involved.
"This short sentence in a policy has taken women three years of fear, humiliation and extraordinary personal sacrifice to secure," she said.
"We were nurses asking for the most basic protection: somewhere private and safe to undress at work, away from members of the opposite sex. Instead of listening, the Trust told us to compromise, broaden our mindset and be more inclusive."
The change comes after the Trust apologised to the nurses and paid them damages after they challenged the policy.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported the nurses throughout their legal battle, welcomed the decision as a victory for the women and called for other NHS trusts to follow suit.
"The Trust's new policy is a complete vindication of the Darlington nurses and everything they have fought for," she said.
"In one clear sentence, the Trust has now accepted the position that Bethany and her colleagues maintained from the beginning: single-sex changing rooms are based on biological sex, and suitable alternatives should be provided for anyone who does not wish to use them."
The dispute began in 2023 when female nurses objected to sharing their changing room with a biologically male colleague who identified as a woman.
Twenty-six members of staff eventually signed a formal letter raising concerns about their privacy and dignity, but the Trust maintained that the transgender colleague was entitled to use the women's changing room.
The nurses who objected were instead told to use alternative facilities. They said they subsequently faced accusations of discrimination and harassment, with some fearing disciplinary action or the loss of their jobs.
After the nurses took legal action, they were provided with a converted office to use as a changing room, but the facilities were criticised as inadequate.
In January, an employment tribunal found in their favour. The ruling followed the UK Supreme Court's landmark judgment in April 2025 which stated that the terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex.
In June, the Trust issued a formal apology and paid £187,000 in damages to the seven nurses. However, its written changing room policy had remained unchanged until now.
Williams criticised the Trust for taking so long to change the policy.
"Yet this elementary and lawful solution came only after years of institutional intransigence. The Trust ignored the women, disregarded internal warnings, pursued them through hostile processes and spent vast sums of public money defending a policy that exposed female staff to discrimination and harassment," she said.
"The nurses were portrayed as the problem when the real problem was a policy that erased their rights. Their courage has now forced one of the country's largest NHS trusts to recognise biological reality and protect single-sex spaces in practice."
Williams called for change across the NHS.
She continued, "There must now be accountability for how this was allowed to happen, for the public money spent, and for the severe personal and professional harm inflicted on dedicated nurses who were telling the truth. Every NHS trust should read this policy change and act immediately.
"Women should not have to litigate hospital by hospital to secure rights already guaranteed by law."
Hutchison said some international nurses had feared losing their visas and employment, while four of the women had been reported to their professional regulator by members of the public after speaking publicly about the case.
She welcomed the new policy but said the Trust should have listened to the nurses from the outset.
"We welcome this change because it will protect women across the Trust, but it should never have required a three-year legal battle. No nurse should ever again be treated as we were for asking for dignity, privacy and safety," she said.
