A group of nurses has won a legal battle against an NHS trust, claiming harassment and sex discrimination after a transgender colleague was permitted to use the female changing rooms.
The seven nurses challenged the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust, arguing they faced sexual discrimination and harassment when nurse Rose Henderson, assigned male at birth but identifying as a woman, was allowed access to the women’s facilities.
The nurses contended that the trust’s decision contradicted a Supreme Court ruling from the previous April, which clarified that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act pertain strictly to biological women and biological sex.
In his decision, Judge James Sweeney determined that the trust’s mandate for the nurses to share a changing space with a biological male constituted “unwanted conduct related to sex and gender reassignment,” infringing upon the nurses’ dignity.
He noted that this situation fostered a “hostile, humiliating, and degrading environment.”
The tribunal found that although Henderson did not directly harass or victimize the nurses, the failure to address their concerns amounted to harassment related to sex and gender reassignment.
Darlington nurse Bethany Hutchison led the claim against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust over its policy of allowing a transgender colleague to use female changing rooms.
After the tribunal judgment in Newcastle, she said: ‘This is a victory for common sense and for every woman who simply wants to feel safe at work.
‘Women deserve access to single-sex spaces without fear or intimidation.
‘Forcing us to undress in front of a man was not only degrading but dangerous.
‘Today’s ruling sends a clear message: the NHS cannot ignore women’s rights in the name of ideology.
‘We stood up because we knew this was wrong. No woman should be forced to choose between her job and her safety.
‘This ruling is a turning point, and we will keep fighting until every woman in the NHS is guaranteed the dignity and protection she deserves.’
The group was backed by the likes of Harry Potter author and outspoken women’s rights activist JK Rowling, who said before the tribunal, which was heard in Newcastle in October and November last year: ‘Millions of women support them.’
Rose Henderson began working as an operating department practitioner at Darlington Memorial Hospital in 2019.
Henderson identifies as a woman and was given a locker in a changing room used until that point exclusively by female nurses.
One nurse, Karen Danson, told the tribunal that at the end of September 2023, she encountered Henderson at close quarters, wearing just nursing scrubs on their upper half and tight black boxer shorts with holes in them.
In her witness statement, she said she had first encountered Henderson around August 2023 and thought that the colleague was male.
Bethany Hutchison (centre, in pink) is one of the claimants who took on a health trust claiming sexual discrimination and sexual harassment because nurse Rose Henderson – who was born male but identifies as a woman – was able to share female changing rooms
Karen Danson (pictured) previously told the hearing that Henderson triggered a flashback of to child sexual abuse trauma when they met in the changing room
‘RH looked masculine, had facial hair, and there was nothing in RH’s appearance to suggest RH was anything other than a man,’ she said.
She added that when she heard a rumour a trans person had joined the trust she ‘expected a trans person to look and dress and generally present themselves as a woman’.
Giving evidence to the tribunal in October, Ms Danson said that when she encountered Henderson in the changing room, they asked her three times whether she would be getting changed.
Ms Danson was horrified and told the tribunal that the incident reignited sex abuse trauma she suffered as a child.
She said: ‘I had walked into the changing room, and I had to walk past Rose Henderson’s locker to get to mine, which is right at the bottom of the L-shaped changing room.
‘Rose Henderson and I did not know each other at all, and we were alone in the changing room. I was rummaging through my bag trying to find the keys for my locker when I suddenly heard a male voice from behind my back asking, “Are you not getting changed yet?”
The tribunal was shown this image of Rose Henderson after Ms Danson was asked if it was representative of how Henderson presented at the time of the incident
Henderson pictured after giving evidence at the tribunal in Newcastle last year
‘I simply said “No”. I kept rummaging through my bag and found my keys.
‘I opened the locker and started rummaging through it to find my cream. And then Rose Henderson’s voice again said, “Are you not getting changed yet?” I again said “No”.
‘I kept rummaging through my locker, but I was forgetting what I was looking for because all I could think about was: “Why is this man asking me if I am getting changed? Is he trying to provoke me for a reason?”’
When the nurses complained, they were given ‘kindness training’, the tribunal heard.
The others nurses who brought a case against the trust are Hutchison, 36; Annice Grundy, 56; Lisa Lockey, 52; Carly Hoy, 31; Tracey Hooper, 47, and Jane Peveller, 51.
The nurses sued the trust for sexual harassment, discrimination, victimisation and breaches of the right to a private life, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
