The Darlington nurses have met Karin Smyth MP, Minister of State for Health, calling for urgent action from the Labour government over the continuing absence of clear and legally compliant national NHS rules on single-sex workplace facilities.
The meeting was held at the Department of Health and Social Care’s northern office at Quarry House in Leeds. It was the nurses’ first formal meeting with a Labour health minister since their landmark Employment Tribunal victory in January 2026.
The long-awaited talks followed earlier commitments to meet the nurses involving former health secretary Wes Streeting and health minister James Murray, which did not ultimately take place following changes and reshuffles within government.
Two of the nurses, Bethany Hutchison and Annice Grundy who are supported by the Christian Legal Centre, told Karin Smyth MP that the government must now explain where the new NHS rules and policies are following the Supreme Court’s judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers and the introduction of the updated Equality and Human Rights Commission Code of Practice.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on 16 April 2025 that the words “sex”, “woman” and “man” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex. The Court also made clear that people with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment continue to have protection against unlawful discrimination.
Since that ruling, when pressed on when and how they plan to implement it, NHS Trusts and institutions across the UK have repeatedly said they are ‘waiting for guidance.’
Following the ruling, Wes Streeting was reported in The Sun as promising that new rules for the NHS would be introduced “within weeks”. More than a year later, the nurses say that no clear, authoritative and enforceable national NHS workplace guidance has appeared.
The updated EHRC Code of Practice came into force on 5 August 2026. However, the Code principally concerns services, public functions and associations. It does not replace the separate Employment Code or provide a comprehensive new framework for NHS employers governing staff access to changing rooms, toilets and other intimate workplace facilities.
The nurses warned the minister that this leaves NHS employees and managers without sufficient practical clarity. They said that continuing to leave decisions to individual trusts risks inconsistent policies, further disputes and a postcode lottery in the protection of female staff.
It was said that, both before and after the Supreme Court ruling, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust repeatedly refused to bring its policy into line with the law, disregarded warnings from the Royal College of Nursing that the policy was unlawful, and spent £1.5 million of taxpayers’ money defending it.
During the meeting, the nurses asked the government to provide a firm publication date for new NHS workforce guidance and to clarify whether that guidance will be mandatory or merely advisory.
They also asked whether the Department of Health and Social Care has issued any formal policy direction to NHS England since the Supreme Court judgment, whether existing NHS policies based on self-identified gender are being reviewed, and what legal framework trusts are expected to follow while national guidance remains outstanding.
Despite being asked twice about new rules for the NHS, Karin Smyth did not provide a plan or timetable. She questioned what difference further guidance would make to staff and told the nurses that “the law is the law”, adding that it was unacceptable for any NHS trust not to implement lawful policies.
The nurses warned that, without clear national direction, there is no consistency across the NHS and individual trusts can pick and choose their approach. They asked whether challenging trusts that were failing to follow the law should really be left to frontline nurses rather than government. “It shouldn’t be our responsibility or fight,” they told the minister. “We don’t get paid enough to do that, and nobody is taking any responsibility for it.”
Smyth told the nurses that they had a voice and a union, but gave no commitment to consult the Darlington nurses or the Darlington Nursing Union on new or revised NHS workforce guidance.
The nurses also raised the case of a psychiatrist taking legal action against Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, presenting it as further evidence of the consequences when NHS organisations fail to provide clear and legally compliant policies.
Nurses raise continuing NMC investigations
The nurses also pressed Karin Smyth MP over the continuing Nursing and Midwifery Council investigations into the nurses for speaking publicly about their case and experiences, despite the courts ruling that doing so was ‘a protected act.’
The nurses told the minister that the prolonged investigations have placed significant professional, financial and personal pressure on those involved. They warned that the cases could have a chilling effect across the NHS by making nurses fearful that raising lawful concerns about privacy, dignity, equality law or workplace practice might jeopardise their professional registration.
Recognising that professional regulators operate independently of government, the nurses did not ask the minister to direct the outcome of any individual regulatory case. Instead, they called for ministerial scrutiny, transparency and assurance that the NMC’s processes are lawful, proportionate and genuinely connected to public protection.
They asked the Department of Health and Social Care to seek an explanation from the NMC of the legal and public-protection basis for continuing the investigations, how the regulator has taken account of the Employment Tribunal’s findings, and when the investigations will be brought to an end.
They also asked for a wider review of the NMC’s screening processes where allegations arise from protected acts, whistleblowing, public-interest speech or participation in legal proceedings.
The nurses described what they said were serious failings in the NMC’s triage process, arguing that it is open to activism and allows bizarre complaints to be taken forward.
They said the screening process needs urgent reform to ensure that complaints are assessed objectively and remain genuinely connected to patient safety and public protection.
They also raised concerns about the influence of trade unions on the regulator and pointed to advice the NMC receives from organisations including the TUC. The nurses highlighted Motion 17, carried at the TUC Congress in Brighton this week, which “unequivocally condemns” the EHRC Code of Practice, states that “the law must be changed” and commits the trade union movement to campaign for gender self-declaration in the UK and to encourage affiliates to challenge what it calls “exclusionary guidance”.
The nurses told the minister that the motion did not use the words “woman”, “women”, “sex” or “female”, despite seeking to reverse the practical effect of a Supreme Court judgment concerning the meaning of sex under the Equality Act 2010. They questioned whether a regulator advised by trade union bodies could command confidence while nurses remained under investigation for raising concerns about sex-based privacy, dignity and workplace facilities.
“The public needs to know there is no plan”
Bethany Hutchison, President of the Darlington Nursing Union, said:
“We welcome the opportunity to meet a Labour health minister and really appreciate the time they gave us.
“We have heard repeated expressions of support and received commitments to meetings, but female nurses across the country are still waiting for clear and enforceable national rules.
After the Supreme Court judgment, Wes Streeting said that new NHS rules would be introduced within weeks. The NHS said they were ‘waiting for guidance’, but it is clear there is no plan or guidance. Quite the contrary we were asked what difference any guidance would make.
“If when we raised concerns in July 2023 that a man identifying as a woman was accessing a female staff changing room and there had been lawful guidance in place for HR to refer to – none of this would have happened. That is why it is important and that is why it matters.
“We are still asking where those rules are and are alarmed that there is no plan, timetable or sign of them. If this continues, the same failings are and will be repeated in hospitals across the country.
“We want the government to turn legal clarity into practical protection. Female staff must be able to change and use intimate facilities with privacy and dignity, and NHS employees must not be punished for raising good-faith concerns about whether workplace policies comply with the law.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has supported the nurses, said:
“Workplace guidance, including guidance applicable across the NHS, must be consistent with the Equality Act 2010 and should properly reflect the EHRC Code of Practice, which provides authoritative guidance on the application of the Act.”