'We want a change in policy!' Darlington Nurses demand apology from NHS trust after 'traumatic' ordeal with trans colleague

Complaints were made by the NHS nurses after Rose Henderson, a biological male who identifies as a woman, was allowed to use the same changing room as the biologically female staff.

Detailing Henderson's "conduct" in the changing room, Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy and Karen Danson claimed they were subjected to "staring" while they were getting undressed and Henderson "parading" around the room.

Telling GB News of the impact the ordeal and the tribunal has had on the nurses, Ms Hutchison explained: "The whole thing's been pretty stressful for all of us, really. This has been an unprecedented legal case, and it's been overwhelming.

"I'm grateful that we have support from each other, and we've been pretty steadfast in the whole thing, really, but we've had to endure some pretty nasty and awful things from senior management within the trust.

"There's been colleagues that have had panic attacks, there have been colleagues that have had to wear clothing underneath their uniform because they haven't wanted to undress in front of a biological male. So it's been a pretty stressful ordeal all round."

Recalling an incident with Henderson in the changing room, Ms Danson added: "He parades around the changing room, he stares at people, and for me it was particularly traumatic because I was abused as a child by my dad, and my dad would say to me, 'are you getting ready for bed', and there's this man in the changing room saying 'are you not getting changed yet'.

"I had a massive panic attack, broke down in tears, and I had nightmares every night for three months afterwards. That's the kind of people that this policy is allowing in the changing room, and it's affecting vulnerable people like me. It's a safeguarding risk in the trust."

Highlighting that Henderson was allowed to use the changing room under the hospital's "transitioning in the workplace policy", the nurses revealed that the legislation has since been retracted, following their legal action.

Ms Lockey explained: "The policy basically stated that anybody who identified as transgender from the moment that they declared that they were transgender were allowed to access whichever gendered changing room they thought they were.

"So from the outset, this person was allowed to use our changing room, apparently since 2019, so they have withdrawn that. We've had the Supreme Court ruling, and we didn't even think we'd end up in court, we thought the Supreme Court ruling would kind of be it."

Asked by Patrick how the tribunal went for the nurses, Ms Lockey revealed that they aren't expecting an outcome until "after Christmas".

She said: "I think it'll probably be the New Year, we don't know. I think there were strengths and weaknesses, and we're hopeful, but we just don't know."

Demanding an "apology" from the NHS Trust for their "behaviour" towards the nurses, Ms Lockey stated: "We want a change in policy. Ideally, it would be nice to have an apology from the trust as well for their behaviour because they have behaved badly towards us. We all believe they've behaved really badly to us on that."

Criticising one of the arguments put forward in the tribunal, that the nurses "chose to interpret anything from Rose in a negative way", and had a "single-minded pursuit of the issue", Ms Hutchison said the argument was "extremely offensive".

She said: "It is a big deal. Women's rights, women safety, women's dignity is a big deal."

In a statement, a spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust told GB News: "County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is committed to providing safe, respectful and inclusive care for patients and working environment for all colleagues.

"As this matter is the subject of ongoing Employment Tribunal proceedings, it would not be appropriate for the Trust to comment further while the case is active."