No further action is to be taken against a Christian nurse who was facing the sack over an alleged “data breach”.
Jennifer Melle risked losing her job of 12 years at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, after she spoke to the media about a dispute with the hospital where she worked over how she addressed a transgender patient.
She received a written warning from the hospital in October 2024 after she referred to a biologically male transgender patient as ‘Mr’ and refused to use female pronouns during treatment. This caused the patient, a convicted paedophile, to use racially abusive language and make a physical threat towards Melle, requiring security intervention, her lawyers at the Christian Legal Centre (CLC) said.
Days later, Melle was suspended on full pay and told she was being investigated for a “potential data breach”. She was also reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council for alleged ‘misgendering’.
Her case gained widespread support from the likes of JK Rowling, MPs from across the party spectrum including Claire Coutinho, Rosie Duffield, and Danny Kruger, and other nurses who have legally challenged their NHS employers, including Scottish nurse Sandie Peggie, and the Darlington nurses who won a landmark victory in court last Friday after being forced to share changing rooms with a transgender biological male.
Melle was informed at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday that the case against her was being dropped and that she was to be reinstated to her position at St Helier Hospital.
Speaking after the hearing in Epsom, Melle said she was “deeply relieved and grateful” for the outcome but that the lessons of her case “must be learned”.
“This has been an incredibly long and painful journey, and today I want to give thanks, first and foremost, to Jesus, who has sustained me every step of the way,” she said.
Expressing “heartfelt thanks” to those who have stood by her “through the darkest moments” of her life, she said she did not want other nurses to go through what she went through as she called on Wes Streeting to immediately implement policy across the NHS “in line with the Supreme Court ruling that upholds biological reality that men are men and women are women”.
“The recent legal victory for the Darlington nurses has shown that sanity and common sense are finally beginning to return to the NHS,” she went on.
“It marks a turning point. No more nurses should ever have to endure what the Darlington nurses went through, what Sandie Peggie went through, or what I have gone through.
"None of us should be punished for speaking the truth, for standing by our professional judgement, or for living according to our deeply held beliefs.”
Although the hospital is not taking any further action, an employment tribunal is still scheduled to take place in April. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Melle is pressing forward with legal action against Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust claiming harassment, discrimination, victimisation, and breaches of her freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
She continued, “I am thankful that this chapter is closing, but I remain determined that the lessons of my case, and the cases before mine, must be learned.
“The NHS must protect its staff, uphold fairness, and ensure that no nurse is ever again placed in an impossible position for simply doing their job with integrity.
“Today I am thankful, relieved, and hopeful for what comes next. And I give glory to God for His faithfulness throughout this entire ordeal. I know look forward to the full employment tribunal in April.”
