An NHS nurse has told GB News she "begged" her bosses to not share a changing room with a transgender colleague - who "pestered" her to get changed in front of them and also tried to observe her personal gynaecology surgery.
Karen Danson has joined the Darlington Nurses - 26 female employees who have launched legal action against the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after raising concerns about the individual.
Discussing her ordeal on GB News, Danson claimed the 26-year-old trans woman, named Rose, repeatedly asked her whether she was going to get changed in front of them - making Danson question if she had entered the wrong changing room.
Rose has "not undergone any physical or medical transition" to become female - they only identify as a woman verbally.
Karen Danson has told GB News of her ordeal at Darlington Memorial Hospital with a trans colleague
Google / GB News
Recalling the incident in the changing room, Danson explained: "I walked in one day after my shift, and there's a man in my changing room. I didn't know how to react - I thought I was in the wrong place or gone into the wrong changing room.
"He was half dressed. He said to me 'are you not getting changed yet?' - I said no, and then he asked me again. And I started panicking, I wondered why he was asking me - does he want to provoke a reaction or does he actually want me to get changed in front of him.
"And when he asked a third time, I had to get out of there. It just reminded me of the trauma that I experienced as a child with my dad and child sex abuse - he would say 'are you not getting ready for bed yet', and there's a man in my changing room asking me if I'm getting changed yet."
Highlighting a policy currently held in the workplace, Danson revealed that anyone can "self-identify" and be assigned to those changing rooms under the hospital's 'transitioning in the workplace' policy - which is how 'Rose' was able to gain access to the female spaces.
Sharing details of the Darlington Nurses case against the trust, Danson told GB News that the nurses who made the complaint were "ostracised" into a manager's former office to get changed - but the colleague is still able to use the big changing room.
Danson explained: "They backed this person 110 per cent, and after that, they moved us into our manager's old office, and we were basically ostracised into there, and this person still gets to use the big changing room.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital are taking their trust to an employment tribunal hearing over a trans colleague's use of changing rooms at work
PA
"I really don't understand why they're siding with this one individual over the concerns of myself and 26 other girls. There could be other people in that changing room who have gone through trauma or who have experienced things, they're just too afraid to come forward. And if it wasn't for the policy, he wouldn't have been in the changing room in the first place."
Recalling a second incident with the individual, Danson told GB News that when she was due to have a personal gynaecology surgery, this transgender colleague had to be present for the operation, which she contested.
Danson said: "I was due to have a gynaecology surgery, and this person works in that theatre. And I said because of the lawsuit, it's a conflict of interest, it's really ethically inappropriate to have this individual in there, and their response was, 'well, how would he feel if we moved him out? It's not possible'.
After the hospital offered to "cancel her surgery" and "move the operation to another hospital" at an "unknown date", Danson fought further to have the colleague removed from the surgery, keeping her original appointment - which was eventually honoured.
Danson told GB News that the Darlington Nurses who have complained have been 'ostracised' by the trust
GB News
Hitting out at the hospital, Danson stated: "It was possible to have him removed. It just goes to show how far the trust are willing to go to for this trans ideology, for the feelings of one person. They didn't treat me as a patient or anything, just I think it felt like punishment because I was part of this legal case.
"I was made to feel that I was transphobic because I didn't want this person in there. And I said, given what had happened to me as a child, I'd want as few men in there as possible."
Sharing where the nurses are with their case, Danson claimed that the hospital are still "dragging their feet". She concluded: "We've heard nothing at all. And given the Supreme Court judgement, I would have presumed that things would be put in place. It's there in black and white now, but they're still dragging their feet. We've not heard anything."
A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: "We want all our colleagues and patients to feel safe, respected and supported at work and in our care. We are very sorry when this is not the experience. We are committed to providing a safe, compassionate environment for all patients and staff."
