Bethany Hutchinson, who works at Darlington Memorial Hospital, shared her concerns during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour today (Wednesday, November 20).
She shed light on the ongoing tensions and legal action against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
She said that complaints about a transgender colleague using female changing rooms had led to a year-long dispute, claiming staff concerns were dismissed, and temporary solutions left many feeling humiliated.
The Trust’s response included allocating a makeshift “locker room” that Ms Hutchinson described as completely unsuitable.
She said: “They’ve been extremely unsupportive. When we eventually had a meeting with HR, because this rumbled on for a year where we were sort of dismissed, HR told us that we needed to be more inclusive, that we needed to broaden our mindset, that we needed to compromise, and that we needed to be educated.”
She added: “I’m dealing with nurses who have had sexual abuse as a child, nurses who have been in relationships that have been violent at the hands of males, and I would defy anyone to sit across from these nurses and say you need to broaden your mindset.”
Ms Hutchinson’s objections go beyond the physical conditions. She criticised the policy itself, which allows employees to self-identify as female and access women’s spaces.
She said: “The policy that the trust have in place, it puts women at risk because it states that men can self-identify as women and access the female changing room. All they have to do is go to a senior member of staff and say ‘look I identify as a woman’ and that’s it they’re allowed in.”
In relation to the makeshift ‘locker room’ situation, she said: “I believe the trust think that they have done this to appease us, but my argument is that changing room, that locker room, still falls under the same policy. There is not another policy in place. So, if a transgender individual or self IDing person wanted to access that changing room they can.”
The nurse emphasised that her concerns were not directed at any one individual but at what she sees as a broader failure of the policy to adequately balance the rights of women with inclusivity measures.
She said: “The fact that a group of nurses raised a risk, and it was sort of brushed off for a year, I mean I think that speaks volumes.”
Ms Hutchinson also highlighted the toll on her colleagues, some of whom have personal histories that make such policies especially distressing.
She said: “This has led to nurses having panic attacks before their shifts, it has led to international nurses wearing clothing underneath their uniform”
Nuala McGivern, the presenter of Woman’s Hour, noted that if a trans woman was a patient they wouldn’t be on a single sex women’s ward, so the staff policy is different to the patient policy.
The Darlington nurse replied that the answer she was given from human resources was that “public law is different to employment law”.
Ms Hutchinson stressed her commitment to finding a solution.
She and her colleagues have submitted a draft policy to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, advocating for a third changing space alongside male and female facilities.
She said: “We have provided a sort of draft policy for Wes Streeting to take a look at because he requested that, and I’m hoping that going forward that will provide a solution that everyone is happy with.”
The case, backed by Christian Concern, has already sparked national debate about the balance between inclusivity and safeguarding in workplace policies.
When questioned about why she has chosen to involve Christian Concern, Hutchinson said that she and her family are “unapologetically Christian”, and that she had done so on advice of her family.
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A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Trust is committed to providing a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all colleagues and patients, operating within the law and adhering to national policies.
“Additional alternative changing facilities have been put in place, these include a private, individual, lockable changing room. An office has been converted into a locker room for the storage of belongings.
“The Trust has processes in place for listening to and responding to concerns raised by any of our colleagues. We take all concerns raised seriously and investigate them thoroughly. An internal investigation continues to take place while the legal proceedings also continue.”
