Health Secretary Wes Streeting has agreed to meet the Darlington nurses after the publication of updated Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, which has been promised to be put before Parliament after May’s local elections.
In a letter sent this week to Bethany Hutchison, President of the Darlington Nursing Union, Mr Streeting confirmed that he will meet the nurses once the EHRC’s revised Code of Practice has been laid before Parliament.
In the letter, he reiterates his support for single‑sex spaces based on biological sex and acknowledges the nurses’ decisive Employment Tribunal victory.
The commitment comes amid wider confirmation from the Government that revised EHRC guidance will proceed following the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling. Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson has stated that the EHRC Code of Practice will be updated to reflect the clear legal position that sex in the Equality Act refers to biological sex, once the May local elections have concluded.
Phillipson explained that introducing the guidance after the elections would allow the EHRC sufficient time to complete its work properly, avoiding the risk of rushed or unclear guidance during the pre‑election period.
She confirmed that the revised Code will be laid before Parliament for scrutiny in the usual way, with the aim of ensuring legal clarity and consistency across public bodies, including the NHS and other frontline services.
Government departments and regulators are expected to have regard to the revised Code once it is in force, aligning policy and practice with settled law and avoiding future legal conflict.
The decision to meet the nurses follows sustained legal and political pressure on regulators and public authorities to bring policies into line with established sex‑based rights.
Background to the case
The nurses’ case raised serious safeguarding concerns about being required to share changing facilities with a male colleague who identifies as female at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
Backed by the Christian Legal Centre, seven nurses, widely known as the “Angels of the North” or the “Magnificent Seven”, brought legal action against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in May 2024 after no action was taken to resolve their concerns and HR told them to ‘broaden their mindset.’
In January this year, an Employment Tribunal ruled decisively in the nurses’ favour, finding that the Trust’s policy amounted to unlawful harassment and discrimination.
The judge concluded that forcing female nurses to undress in the presence of a man violated their dignity, created a degrading working environment, and failed to properly balance sex‑based rights under the Equality Act 2010. The Tribunal also criticised the Trust’s handling of complaints and its treatment of nurses who spoke out.
Despite this ruling, national NHS guidance has yet to be issued.
Previous meeting
Mr Streeting first spoke about the case in June 2024 after the nurses went fully public with their case, stating that he supported them and was “horrified” that they had been forced to resort to legal action.
He met the nurses in October 2024 at the Department of Health, where he told the nurses he believed sex is biological and asked them to submit proposals for policy reform.
However, in subsequent correspondence, Mr Streeting said he could not issue NHS guidance while awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court case brought by For Women Scotland on the statutory meaning of sex.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in April 2025, which confirmed that sex in the Equality Act refers to biological sex, Mr Streeting told the media that new NHS guidance on single‑sex spaces would be delivered “within weeks”. Despite this assurance, guidance did not materialise.
In May 2025, after Darlington nurse Karen Danson publicly described how being required to share changing facilities with a man had triggered flashbacks to childhood abuse, Mr Streeting instructed NHS England to intervene “urgently” due to the high‑profile nature of the case. A senior NHS England official visited the hospital unannounced, described the female changing room provision as “inadequate”, apologised directly to one of the nurses, and promised swift action.
Following their Tribunal victory in January 2026, the nurses again wrote to Mr Streeting urging him to take action.
However, it appears that only after Reform MP Suella Braverman wrote to him following a meeting with the nurses that he responded, agreeing to meet them.
In his response, Mr Streeting said the Government is now awaiting the publication and parliamentary scrutiny of the revised EHRC guidance in order to avoid issuing NHS advice that could later be contradicted or withdrawn.
He described it as “incredibly disappointing” to read the full details of how the Trust failed the nurses and acknowledged the seriousness of the Tribunal’s findings.
The Government intends to lay the EHRC Code of Practice before Parliament in May, after which it will be subject to a 40‑day scrutiny period.
Enforceable guidance needed
Bethany Hutchison, President of the Darlington Nursing Union, welcomed the response but said accountability must now be matched by action. She said:
“We are pleased that the Secretary of State has committed to meeting us again, but it should never have taken years of legal action, national media exposure and a tribunal victory for our dignity at work to be recognised. Wes Streeting has repeatedly said he supports us and believes in single‑sex spaces based on biological sex. We now expect that support to be reflected in clear, enforceable guidance across the NHS.”
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said:
“The Tribunal in the Darlington case confirmed what should have been obvious all along: women should not be forced to undress in front of men. By ruling that the policy that allowed men into the women’s changing room was wrong, it has also exposed every NHS Trust across the country to legal challenge, as similar policies are believed to be in place nationally.
“The Health Secretary’s acknowledgement of their treatment is important, but women working across the NHS need certainty, not delay. The law is clear, and guidance must now reflect that reality, so this injustice is never repeated.”
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