Darlington nurses

The Darlington nurses were told they needed to ‘broaden their mindset’ and be more ‘inclusive’, because they didn’t want to share a changing room with a biological male identifying as a woman

Courageous female nurses are speaking publicly following the launch of a landmark legal case against an NHS Trust. After asking not to share a changing room with a biological male identifying as a woman, they were told they needed to ‘broaden their mindset’ and be more ‘inclusive’.

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, a group of nurses working at Darlington Memorial Hospital, which comes under the control of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, have filed legal action against the Trust for sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

The male operating department practitioner, who has been sharing a changing room with the female nurses, openly says that he does not take female hormones and is trying to get his girlfriend pregnant; however, he also says that he ‘identifies’ as a woman and is called ‘Rose’.

After 26 nurses wrote to the Trust raising concerns, HR bosses said that they supported ‘Rose’ and that the nurses needed to get ‘educated’ and ‘compromise’. They said that the mere fact that ‘Rose’ says he identifies as a woman means that he can use the female changing rooms.

After outstanding public support for their case, the nurses have now launched their own trade union, the Darlington Nursing Union, to defend the rights and dignity of women at the workplace.

The nurses handed in a CitizenGo petition signed by 48,000 people to Number 10 Downing Street that called for the government to do whatever is necessary to ensure women have access to single-sex changing rooms and toilets.

The importance of their challenge has also been vindicated by a meeting with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, who confirmed he is committed to ensuring that the belief that sex is biological will be reflected in the day-to-day running of the NHS under his watch.

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