15-05-2025
NHS trust breaking law over trans row, says Royal College of Nursing
An NHS trust at the centre of a trans changing room row has been accused of breaking the law by not providing single-sex facilities.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) accused the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust of breaching workplace health and safety law by not prohibiting a trans nurse from using female changing rooms.
The union intervened amid a legal battle between the trust and eight of its nurses, who are opposing its decision to allow Rose Henderson, who was born male, to use women-only facilities.
In a letter seen by The Telegraph, the RCN in March pointed to the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, which require all changing rooms to be male or female-only except when they are 'single lockable rooms'.
'The RCN expects the trust to comply with these statutory provisions and provide single-sex changing rooms without delay,' the letter reads.
The nurses are suing the NHS trust for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment after Henderson was permitted to use a female changing room.
The nurse, who was born male, lives as a woman but does not have a gender recognition certificate (GRC) and therefore has not legally changed sex.
Changing in converted office
The eight nurses, who have formed the Darlington Nurses Union (DNU), have been forced to change in a converted office since they first raised concerns about the situation in 2023.
The nurses, who are being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, were initially told by hospital bosses they needed to be 're-educated, broaden their mindset and become more inclusive'.
In the RCN's letter, Sarah Dodsworth, the union's northern regional director, told the NHS trust to change the gender-critical nurses' changing room into a third 'gender-neutral changing space'.
That would then allow the nurses to return to the female-only changing room.
'It would seem reasonable that the alternative changing room provision that some women are currently using, would be the obvious choice for a gender neutral changing space,' Ms Dodsworth wrote.
'It is our understanding that the above provisions outweigh any local or national guidance regarding the issue,' the letter said.
The following week, the trust republished its 'transitioning in the workplace policy' without any changes to policies allowing transgender women to change in female changing rooms.
Bethany Hutchison, president of the DNU, said the trust had not complied with the RCN's letter.
'The law is the law'
'We appreciate the letter from the Royal College of Nursing, but it has been a month now and there has been no sign of any action, quite the opposite in fact,' she said.
'We recognise how captured the NHS has been by extreme Stonewall policies, but unfortunately the law is the law. There can be no excuses for any further dragging of feet.'
The RCN's intervention in the Darlington case was made before the Supreme Court ruled that transgender women were not legally women.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, added: 'NHS Trusts must now revise policies that have prioritised gender identity over biological reality often at the expense of female staff and patients.'
The tribunal is due to be heard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in October.
