NHS bosses prioritised equality and diversity over fire safety

Nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital who were forced out of the female changing rooms for refusing to undress in front of a male colleague have faced further victimisation, this time through unsafe and inadequate ‘temporary’ replacement facilities.

New evidence has emerged this afternoon during cross-examination of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s Director of Workforce, Andrew Thacker by the nurses’ KC, Niazi Fetto.

Mr Thacker admitted that the Trust had ‘not considered’ the ‘risk, health, safety or wellbeing’ of the nurses who had raised concerns.

It has emerged that the Trust’s transgender policy explicitly states that any female staff member who objects to sharing changing facilities with a biologically male colleague identifying as female will ‘not be tolerated’ and must ‘find an alternative place to change.’

After 8 Darlington nurses took legal action and went public with their story in June 2024, the Trust followed their policy.

Instead of recognising how the policy discriminated against the female staff, the Trust followed the Stonewall-inspired policy and ordered the nurses to change elsewhere while ‘Rose’ continued to access the changing room without check.

Told they would be provided with a ‘temporary’ changing room, the nurses found a converted office, with no lockers, which opened onto a public corridor and clinical area. There was also nothing that could stop Rose from accessing this temporary changing room either.

The nurses said they felt ‘humiliated’ and ‘dehumanised’ by the move.

Temporary changing room ‘completely inadequate’

The Trust has claimed that they provided a private changing room, but evidence shows that this is highly disingenuous. The single changing room, often full of boxes and cage trolleys, is within a meeting room used for training and which in no way could be used for all the nurses who did not want to change in front of a man.

When senior NHS England officials inspected the facilities, only in June 2025, they described them as ‘completely inadequate.’

On top of this, internal communications and tribunal evidence has now also revealed that senior NHS management refused to fund essential fire safety upgrades.

Documents show that Estates quoted £7,500–£9,000 to make the room compliant with fire regulations, including installing a fire door and fireproof walls.

Despite clear warnings from multiple staff, the work was never approved.

Associate Director of Nursing at the Trust, Helen Coppock, said: “The only thing was that Estates had quoted £7,500 to do the necessary work to make it compliant for fire safety measures. I did not think we could justify that, when every ward in the hospital does not have a changing facility. I did not say no, but escalated this…. You get so many emails each day, so if I do not hear back then I assume it has been dealt with.”

NHS equality and diversity officer salaries vary widely but typically range from around £35,000 to £45,000 for entry-level positions, with senior roles and management positions potentially earning £55,000 or more.

Not just denied dignity, but also safety

Responding to the revelations, Darlington nurse and President of the Darlington Nursing Union, Bethany Hutchison, said: “It was hard enough to be forced, and humiliated out of the female changing room for a year, but then to find out that the Trust refused to spend the money to make our changing room safe, is beyond shocking.

“We already felt vulnerable and at risk. The most hurtful part, is it reveals they simply didn’t care.

“We were already being punished for standing up for our dignity and safety. To then be placed in a fire hazard, just to avoid addressing our concerns properly, is beyond belief. We are considering further legal options on this specific matter.”

The Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the nurses in their legal case, condemned the Trust’s actions, or lack of them.

“This is a scandal,” said Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre. “The NHS is willing to spend tens of thousands of pounds every year on diversity officers and training, yet it refused to spend a fraction of that to protect female nurses from fire risk.

These women were not only denied dignity, they were denied safety. It’s a shocking indictment of misplaced priorities and institutional bullying.

“This would have been far less of an issue, and less of a risk, had the trust simply corrected their policy and provided a single room for Rose to change in, instead of forcing the female nurses out of the female changing room.”

The nurses’ case continues today at Newcastle Employment Tribunal.