The Darlington Nurses have accused Wes Streeting of "dragging his feet" on NHS policy surrounding transgender colleagues, as they take their next fight for women's rights to America.
Speaking to GB News, Bethany Hutchison said the Health Secretary is "indecisive" on the trans debate and is merely using "lip service" to show his support for them.
Eight Darlington nurses took action after trans colleague Rose Henderson was allowed to use the female changing rooms, sparking a legal battle spanning almost 18 months.
The nurses were victorious in their fight, with the judge ruling County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust "harassed" and "violated the nurses' dignity" by allowing a trans colleague into their changing room.
Recalling their fight for womens rights in the hospital they work in, Ms Hutchison explained: "In 2023, it became apparent that there was a male using the female space, and a number of nurses were very upset about this.
"We took them to a tribunal and we won, and they ruled that basically they had put us in a very precarious situation and that it was a violation of our privacy and dignity."
Asked by host Ben Leo if Mr Streeting has changed NHS policy following their victory, she responded: "No, he hasn't.
"I have absolutely no idea why, I feel like he's dragging his feet and he is indecisive about it, which is a shame because he did come out and say he supported us. But it seems like it's all lip service at the moment."
Darlington Nurse Bethany Hutchison has accused Health Secretary Wes Streeting of 'dragging his feet'
|PA / GB NEWS
Detailing her campaigning in America for women's rights, Ms Hutchison told GB News: "We are speaking to very influential US lawmakers, policymakers, that this is the extent that women are having to go in order to protect their dignity and their safe spaces.
"These policies actually create an atmosphere of fear within organisations and people feel... those people who believe in biological reality are frightened to speak out."
Asked by Ben what the reaction has been in the US to the Darlington Nurses case, she revealed: "They're shocked, they can't believe it, but they also take it on board and they think, yeah, we're not going to let this happen here."
Delivering a message to Mr Streeting, Ms Hutchison told the Health Secretary: "My message is that this is not complex and that he needs to roll out guidance.
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Nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital took their trust to an employment tribunal
| PA"We provided a policy, actually a draft policy, and he needs to take that on board and roll it out."
Supporting Ms Hutchison in her campaigning, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, Andrea Williams, said the Darlington Nurses case could have been dealt with "years ago" by the NHS Trust.
She explained: "The most extraordinary thing about this is that it could have been dealt with three years ago, just by saying to the man who was in their changing room, 'why don't you have this room over there and let the nurses be in the female changing room?' This could all have been dealt with.
"And we raised it and we raised it under the radar and we sought to deal with it quietly in order to protect these amazing nurses, because the other truth is this, they come forward and they're the brave ones.
Andrea Williams told GB News that the NHS trust 'dug in' to protect the trans colleague
|GB NEWS
Ms Williams added: "He was wandering around in boxer shorts in the changing room. And the thing about it all is not just him, but the fact that the hierarchy within the hospital and within the NHS and indeed right up to a Government level, all the people that might have had power just simply dug in, dug in to protect him over these amazing nurses.
"What we have in the UK, where it ends up is men in women's changing rooms, teachers losing their job that won't socially transition eight to nine year olds, teachers losing their licences, judges losing their licences, doctors losing their licences for trying to uphold biological reality, for refusing to put on medical forms that a man is a woman.
"So it ends up in a legal insanity and in a lived insanity that we're trying to cover over in policy. And we're here to say that that's where it ends up. And we're hoping that men and women of influence here will speak into the heart of Government back in Westminster."
A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are taking time to review the judgment carefully, and will comment further once we have had the opportunity to consider it in full."
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