| Notes to editors:
For more information please contact tom.allen@christianconcern.com / 07974304620
Timeline for the story:
2023:
2024:
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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”.
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28 May: Nurses file their case with the Newcastle Employment Tribunal.
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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”.
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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.
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3 October: Nurses launch the Darlington Nursing Union (DNU) to protect the rights and safety of women in the workplace.
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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.
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November: Nurses send draft guidance to Wes Streeting for protecting women and ensuring access to safe single-sex spaces in the NHS.
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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:
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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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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”.
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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20 October: The Newcastle Employment Tribunal begins hearing the Darlington Nurses case.
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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’.
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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.
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27 October: Nurses testify to ‘deep male voice’ of trans colleague.
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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.
Images and video
Video promo:
https://youtu.be/nTa9jM7-17M
Darlington nurses with ‘Safe Spaces for Women’ banner outside the Department for Health:
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/537e653d-2f45-a6b2-2d4a-fbbac59f3d47.jpg
Darlington nurses with ‘Safe Spaces for Women’ banner at Parliament Square:
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/5d8967c3-b02c-a6a1-6904-ae344adde9ae.jpg
‘Inclusive’ changing room sign that was put up:
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/images/f495e2a6-6d0c-909d-3a94-14f58063ca17.jpg
‘Temporary’ locker room:
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/images/8a74ee2a-e8d3-7997-c7f1-a639425c668f.jpeg
Images of Kemi Badenoch with the Darlington nurses:
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/5c69d3d8-bce2-28f5-16cd-de376ab7e857.jpg
Images of Karen Danson
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/aa38b188-5d97-ecbe-e62f-369186e171ee.jpg
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/d639eca3-5d5f-0343-4861-6c4c19e4d637.jpg
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/09fa38ce-8970-2e50-9a37-b2e111f7884b.jpg
https://mcusercontent.com/bed173cc9adfcad1e0e442a35/_compresseds/1caeea0d-1854-5666-2ad2-a3720cbbd793.jpg
Video promo with nurses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-46MUf190
Extended video with the nurses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDt12ceQYek
Video interview with Darlington nurse, Karen Danson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAdqtULuK3c
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