Latest news with #BethanyHutchison
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Threat to women-only wards as zealot doctors say: Defy trans ruling and allow trans patients to self-identify
NHS doctors will brazenly call on colleagues to overrule the Supreme Court and allow trans patients to self-identify, it has emerged. Activist members of the British Medical Association want doctors to vote for 'identity-based care' at its conference later this month. Campaigners fear this could lead to biological men who identify as women being put in female-only wards or other single-sex spaces. And it would put doctors on a collision course with the UK's highest court after judges ruled in April that the term 'woman' referred to biological sex and not gender. Last night, Bethany Hutchison, a member of the Darlington Nurses, who won a landmark battle for a female-only changing room after claiming NHS transgender policies breached their human rights, said the motion 'puts an extreme and discredited ideology ahead of the proper medical care of vulnerable patients'. She added: 'Doctors and nurses are being dragged into an ideological conflict they didn't ask for.' Andrea Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, said if adopted, the policy 'could create chaos'. Delegates meeting in Liverpool are due to discuss proposals to 'affirm the right of all LGBTQ+ patients and staff to identity-based care and working conditions'. The motion presented by its London regional council calls on the BMA, which represents 200,000 medics, to produce 'guidance and a lobbying strategy to embed this principle' across the NHS. But voting for it would go against the views of Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who admitted his previous comment that 'trans women are women' was incorrect. Helen Joyce, of the Sex Matters charity, said some at the BMA want to 'abandon evidence and reason'. The BMA was also criticised for opposing the Cass Review, which found children were being let down by gender identity services. The union later said it will undertake its own evaluation of the report.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Victory for Darlington nurses as they win landmark battle for a female-only hospital changing room
Eight pioneering nurses who formed their own union to defend the rights of women have won a landmark battle for a female-only changing room. The Darlington nurses launched a legal action saying transgender policies put them at risk, deprived them of dignity and breached their human rights. They claimed a biological male colleague identifying as a woman called Rose stared at their breasts as they were getting undressed and lingered too long in the changing room. One nurse had a panic attack after Rose repeatedly asked when they were alone, 'Are you getting changed yet?' Now, with their case heading to the courts, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has intervened, ordering Darlington Memorial Hospital to give the women their own room. One of them, Bethany Hutchison, said they 'hugely appreciate' the action 'to restore our safety and dignity in the workplace in line with the law'. And she said the nurses would not 'stop until this action is extended urgently to female workers across the NHS without any unnecessary delay'. The Darlington nurses sued their NHS trust a year ago, winning overwhelming support across the country. 'Millions of women stand with them,' said Their victory comes after it emerged last week that NHS chiefs have been forced to rip up their pro-trans guidance after it was rendered illegal by the Supreme Court. The NHS Confederation, which represents trusts, has quietly withdrawn guidance telling hospitals that they should allow trans people to use their chosen lavatories and changing rooms. A senior NHS England official visited Darlington Memorial Hospital unannounced last week and described the changing facilities for female staff as 'inadequate'. The official apologised to one of the Darlington nurses, promising to act 'with speed' by providing male, female and gender-neutral changing rooms, adding: 'We want you to feel comfortable and safe.' Last year, after raising concerns the nurses were told by HR that they needed to get 're-educated', 'compromise' and 'be more inclusive'. After the nurses publicised their claim, the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust gave them a 'temporary' office for changing into uniforms. However, supporters of the nurses said that the office had no lockers and opened on to a public corridor, resulting in the women branding it as 'dehumanising' and 'humiliating'. When their union was reluctant to lend its support, the eight nurses formed their own, the Darlington Nursing Union and submitted their proposals for a way forward to Mr Streeting. Their guidelines provided 'a fair and manageable way forward to protect safe single-sex spaces for all NHS staff in line with the equality law'. In addition, it respected the rights of those with the protected characteristic of 'gender reassignment', legally known as 'transexuals'. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch backed the nurses saying: 'A woman should never be forced to get undressed in the presence of a man. The case of the Darlington Nurses is yet another example of women being demonised and patronised for raising legitimate concerns about single-sex spaces.' Mr Streeting was forced to wait until after April's Supreme Court ruling that the word sex in the Equality Act means biological sex before making his latest intervention row. Last month it was revealed that even before the Supreme Court ruling, the Royal College of Nursing had written to the Darlington trust saying they were acting unlawfully. The letter ordered the trust to provide single-sex changing rooms 'without delay.' Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'A climate of fear has pervaded the system and many from top to bottom have been intimidated into silence and inaction. Equality and diversity policies have been weaponised to silence dissent and to prevent women's safety and dignity being protected in the workplace. 'We are grateful for the action from Wes Streeting and NHS England in this matter and pray that they will now quickly follow this through so that the nurses can return to the female changing rooms without delay.'
The Independent
02-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Nurses take trust to tribunal over trans colleague's use of changing rooms
A group of nurses who are challenging their health trust's policy over allowing a trans colleague to use the female changing rooms at work have attended an employment tribunal hearing. The eight nurses are taking action against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after a colleague was allowed to use the women's changing facilities at Darlington Memorial Hospital. They have filed the claim on the grounds of sexual harassment, discrimination, victimisation and breaches of the right to a private life, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Seven of the nurses were at a preliminary hearing at Newcastle Tribunal Centre where a judge discussed an application by the trust to delay the hearing from its current trial date of June 16. The trust has claimed that a postponement is necessary to allow more time for an internal investigation to be completed. The hearing is continuing. Ahead of the hearing, nurse Bethany Hutchison said outside court: 'We are nurses who love our jobs and our patients and only want to be afforded the dignity of getting dressed and undressed for work without a man present. 'I would like to remind everyone that we are doing this for the safety and dignity of every woman and girl across society and that we will continue to fight these unlawful policies. 'Thank you again to our many supporters. 'We see you and hear you and are delighted to stand with you.' The nurses are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre.
