The ongoing legal dispute between nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital and the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust appears to have taken a new turn, following an official visit from NHS England and an intervention from the Health Secretary.
The nurses, who are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, took issue with being required to undress in front of a man who identifies as female. The nurses were told they needed to be more inclusive and say they even received an offer from their transgender colleague, “Rose”, to “educate” them about their attitudes.
A recent Supreme Court ruling determined that the use of public facilities, like changing rooms, should be based on biological sex, rather than subjective feelings. Despite this, the female nurses have had their changing facilities moved to a “temporary” location.
The temporary location has been in use for almost a year, does not have a lock and opens onto a public corridor. What used to be the female changing rooms are used by Rose.
A senior member of NHS England, after an unannounced visit to the hospital, described the female changing facilities as “inadequate” and said that swift action would be taken to provide male, female and gender-neutral changing rooms.
Shortly before last year’s general election, Wes Streeting, now the Health Secretary, indicated that he was in support of the nurses. Streeting has been criticised for apparently doing little of substance to support the nurses, but following the Supreme Court ruling, he did reiterate his support: “I want to make sure that the NHS is upholding the sex based rights of women who work for the NHS as well as women who use the NHS…I don't want to see a situation where NHS staff are having to drag their employers through courts and tribunals to uphold their rights.”
One of the nurses, Bethany Hutchison, who also leads the union formed by the group, said, “We hugely appreciate the action initiated by Mr Streeting, NHS England and the RCN who have promised a way forward to restore our safety and dignity in the workplace in line with the law.“We should never have had to take this action, but such has been the capture of the NHS by Stonewall on these issues that we faced no choice."
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “The action Wes Streeting takes on this matter could well be a defining moment of his career. If he does the right thing it will mark him out as a bold politician who follows through on his promises with the courage of his convictions."
Reports suggest other government organisations, particularly the civil service are refusing to accept the Supreme court ruling and are still permitting people to use the facilities based on their personal preferences rather than biological reality.
