An NHS trust has been accused of continually flouting the law around women’s rights by requiring female nurses to get changed in front of a biologically male nurse who goes by the name of “Rose”.
Furthermore, “Rose” apparently offered to “re-educate” the nurses as to why they should be willing to get undressed in front of a transgender nurse.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust were informed a month ago by the Royal College of Nursing that they are in breach of the law by failing to provide single-sex changing rooms for its female staff. Despite this, no action has been taken to redress the situation.
A recent Supreme Court ruling determined that the use of public and workplace facilities such as toilets and changing rooms should be based on biological sex.
Rather than accepting the new legal reality, the Director of Workforce at the Trust has been accused of doubling down on the old ideology by republishing a “Transitioning in the Workplace” policy which continues to permit people to use the changing facilities of the gender they “identify” with.
Nurses in Darlington are currently in a legal battle with the Trust after allegedly being informed, without warning, that they would be required to undress in front of a male colleague. When they raised concerns about this they say they were told they needed to be “more inclusive” and to be “re-educated”.
After the case became public, the Trust provided a temporary office for female nurses to change in. However, this was described as “dehumanising” and “humiliating” by the nurses, as the office had no lockers and opened onto a public corridor. The temporary office has now been in use for nearly a year.
Bethany Hutchison, a Darlington nurse and President of the Darlington Nursing Union, said, “We appreciate the letter from the Royal College of Nursing, but it has been a month now and there has been no sign of any action, quite the opposite in fact."
Hutchison claimed that the NHS has been captured by “extreme Stonewall policies” and that the law, as determined by the Supreme Court, needs to be followed as a matter of urgency.“We are still having to use what we were told 10 months ago would be a ‘temporary’ converted office to change in," she said. She concluded, “NHS Trusts cannot ignore the Supreme Court and clear direction from the Royal College of Nursing in the name of an extreme and discredited ideology.”Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the nurses, said, “The NHS, following the Supreme Court ruling, must now recognise sex where it matters most: in ensuring privacy, dignity, and safety.“Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told the nurses in person that he stands with them. If the NHS is willing to ignore the Supreme Court and the Royal College of Nursing, then he must act— urgently.”
