Press office

Nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital who were forced out of the female changing rooms for refusing to undress in front of a male colleague have faced further victimisation, this time through unsafe and inadequate ‘temporary’ replacement facilities.

In compelling testimony at the Darlington nurses’ employment tribunal, Kirsten Coutts, a staff nurse at Darlington Memorial Hospital, described how the Trust’s so-called “independent investigation” into safeguarding concerns, raised by female nurses about a biologically male colleague using the female changing room, was instead weaponised to intimidate and penalise those who spoke out.

Christian social worker Felix Ngole will appear before the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in London this week to challenge a ruling that he was lawfully denied employment due to his Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality.

Evidence presented at the employment tribunal involving nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital has revealed that concerns over the behaviour of a biologically male staff member, known as Rose, in the female changing room were raised well before the nurses first raised concerns in July 2023.

NHS nurse Bethany Hutchison, a senior member of the Day Surgery Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital, has given evidence in what is expected to be a landmark Employment Tribunal case against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.