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

What’s at stake?

• Radical gender ideology dismantles truth and biblical teaching, putting Christians at risk of losing their jobs for holding to their beliefs. Christians must be free to uphold God’s good design for men and women.
• Women deserve access to safe single-sex spaces at work. The Trust’s disregard for their fears and rights risks placing more women in untenable situations where they are forced to undress in front of a man and be placed in potentially dangerous situations in ‘female-only’ spaces.
• By prioritising the feelings of a man who wants to be seen as a woman over the genuine concerns of women who are scared for their safety, the NHS is exposing its willingness to ignore women’s rights in order to promote extreme and controversial gender ideology.
• By enabling a man to use a female-only space simply because he claims he is a woman disregards decades of women’s rights and nullifies biology, women’s safety, biblical teaching, and common sense.

Support the Darlington Nurses

The nurses have had their case backed from the start by the Christian Legal Centre.

We provide this support completely free of charge to the nurses and others like them.

Make a donation today to help this work continue.

Legal documents:

• Employment Tribunal ruling in the Darlington Nurses’ favour (Bethany Hutchinson and Others v County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust)

Timeline:

2023:

• July: The female nurses raised serious concerns with management about having to share the changing room with ‘Rose.’

2024:

• March: 26 nurses sign a letter to the Trust raising cultural sensitivity and abuse concerns. The Trust refuses to act and dismisses their concerns, telling them to “broaden their mindset,” “be educated,” and compromise because “Rose identifies as a woman”.

• 28 May: Nurses file their case with the Newcastle Employment Tribunal.

• June: The nurses publicly launch their case against the County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, citing sexual harassment and sex discrimination for being forced to share a female changing room with a biological male identifying as female, known as “Rose”.

• July: The nurses are informed by management that their ward manager’s office was being cleared out and would become a ‘temporary’ locker room for anyone uncomfortable getting undressed in front of a man.

• 3 October: Nurses launch the Darlington Nursing Union (DNU) to protect the rights and safety of women in the workplace.

• 24 October: The nurses meet Wes Streeting to discuss their case. He says he believes something has ‘gone wrong in our society’ on these issues, that ‘we have created an unnecessary conflict’ and that society has moved backwards on equality.

• November: Nurses send draft guidance to Wes Streeting for protecting women and ensuring access to safe single-sex spaces in the NHS.

• 2 December: Claire Coutinho, the Shadow Equalities Minister, meets with the nurses and says equality and diversity policies need revising, not just in the NHS, but in workplaces across the country.

2025:

• 20 January: Legal proceedings begin with a preliminary hearing in Newcastle addressing a last-ditch attempt by the Trust to have media reporting restrictions placed on the identity of ‘Rose’. The nurses gave evidence that they were ‘intimidated’ by ‘Rose’ after launching legal action.

• 27 January: The judge rejects the application for reporting restrictions, concluding: “I am not satisfied that [the Trust] or [Rose] have established a case which meets the threshold for granting an order, or that any such order would be proportionate.”

• 24 March: Nurses meet Leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, who says: “There is no place for gender ideology in the NHS. These brave nurses have my full support in their fight to restore common sense to an environment where single sex spaces should be non-negotiable.”

• 27 March: The Royal College of Nursing writes to the Darlington Trust, telling them that they are acting unlawfully and need to provide single-sex changing facilities “without delay”.

• 2 April: Employment Judge Stuart Robertson adjourns the nurses’ case to October, saying if the Trust does not now comply with proceedings, “it does so at its peril”.

• 3 April: The Director of Workforce at the Trust re-published the ‘Transitioning in the Workplace Policy’, reiterating that a biological man can use the women’s changing rooms.

• 16 April: Supreme Court delivers its landmark ruling on the For Women Scotland’s ‘What is a Woman’ case with implications for the Nurses’ case.

• May: One of the nurses, Karen, goes public with her story and exposes how ‘Rose’ intimidated and traumatised her by harassing her in the changing rooms and making her experience PTSD from sexual abuse as a child.

• 13 October: Christian Concern reveals four of the Darlington Nurses – Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy and Tracey Hooper – have been reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the police for ‘transphobia’ and ‘hate crime’. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, the nurses submit a detailed legal response to the NMC, arguing that the complaints are ideologically driven, legally baseless, and amount to unlawful victimisation.

• 20 October: The Newcastle Employment Tribunal begins hearing the Darlington Nurses case.

• 22 October: Karen Danson, a staff nurse at Darlington Memorial Hospital, gives a powerful and deeply personal witness testimony at the start of the Employment Tribunal hearing, sharing the traumatic locker room incident with ‘Rose’.

• 23 October: Nurse Bethany Hutchison gives evidence at the Newcastle Employment Tribunal, sharing how she was compelled to act in defence of her vulnerable colleagues in light of the ‘institutional neglect’ of female staff by the NHS.

• 27 October: Nurses testify to ‘deep male voice’ of trans colleague.

• 29 October: NHS Foundation Trust’s Director of Workforce, Andrew Thacker, admits that the Trust had ‘not considered’ the ‘risk, health, safety or wellbeing’ of the nurses who had raised concerns.

• 11 November: Following a 3-week trial, the barristers make their closing speeches and exchange written submissions.

2026:

• 16 January: Newcastle Employment Tribunal rules in favour of the nurses, saying that Darlington NHS Foundation Trust unlawfully discriminated against and harassed the Darlington Nurses by requiring them to share female-only changing rooms with a biological male.

Videos and media coverage (sample)

• Darlington Nurses ‘only want to be afforded the dignity of getting dressed without a man present’
• Told to be ‘more inclusive’ – Darlington nurses go public with legal case against NHS Trust
• Darlington nurse shares her story of trauma as NHS continues to impose gender ideology
• 26 nurses forced to share changing room with biological man – GB News
• Darlington nurses speak with Sky News about their legal case against the NHS Trust
• The Times: Darlington nurses won’t be silenced in their fight for single-sex spaces
• The Mail on Sunday Exclusive: The NHS nurses branded bigots for refusing to share a changing room with a ‘big burly bloke’: As they launch a landmark legal case, these warrior women reveal why their fight is NOT a trans issue
• The Telegraph: ‘We’re not transphobic, we just want privacy’: The nurses fighting the NHS for women-only spaces
• ‘This shouldn’t be at the expense of women’ | Darlington nurses’ trans changing room case | GB News
• Channel 5: ‘There is quite a high level of anxiety’ | Andrea Williams on first day of nurses’ trial
• Watch the nurses speak on BBC News at Ten
• The Mirror: NHS transgender tribunal: JK Rowling-backed nurses give final arguments
• The Express: Nurses abandoned by Labour and NHS say trans fight was for millions of women and girls

Commentary

• The NHS is letting down its nurses – Josephine Bartosch
• Brave nurses just want the right to privacy – Janice Turner

Support the Darlington Nurses

The nurses are receiving help from the Christian Legal Centre to take their case forward.

We provide this support completely free of charge to the nurses and others like them.

Make a donation today to help this work continue.