Eight UK NHS nurses are suing their employer, Darlington Memorial Hospital, for sexual harassment over being forced to change their scrubs in front of a trans-identified male in the women's changing room.
The hospitality allegedly continually ignored concerns that Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy, Tracey Hooper, Joanne Bradbury, and three others raised over a 26-year-old male operating department practitioner, who identifies as a woman and calls himself "Rose," using the women's changing facilities. The nurses were even told by hospital bosses that they needed to be "re-educated."
The nurses have alleged that "Rose" openly says he does not take any female hormones and is trying to get his girlfriend pregnant, per Daily Mail. Four have said that their female colleagues have suffered panic attacks after being forced to change in front of Rose, whose "masculinity" has left Hutchison in "a shock" before. They said that Rose would often spend "a long time walking around the female dressing room," wearing only boxers and staring at their breasts.
The nurses said that the hospital's response was "offensive" and they are now pursuing legal action.
Hutchison, 34, told Daily Mail: It’s disgraceful that nurses are ending up in tears prior to their shifts. We are there to be an emotional support for patients who are about to undergo surgery, and it’s very difficult to do that if you’re in a state of distress from having to change in front of a male. I think women need to stop being fearful about this and use their voice. We have fought for so long to get women’s rights but it’s just gone backwards, and I’m not prepared to see that."
The nurses began raising concerns in 2023 and a formal complaint was eventually signed by 26 nurses and sent to bosses at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in April. However, the HR department responded that the nurses needed to "broaden their mindset," be "more inclusive" and "be educated."
Hutchison continued: "It is so offensive to us because we are all educated – we need a degree in order to do this job and some of us have multiple degrees. We’ve got very intelligent people on our ward so it was disgusting for them to say something like that to us. We’re not transphobic and we’re not fearful of trans people – we believe they need their own changing space that’s safe for them."
Lockey, 51, stated: "We get transgender patients through our unit and we look after them. We’re nurses, we care about people, that’s our job, so it is an insult that we’ve been made to feel like we’re bigots."
"We’ve all been really uneasy about [coming forward]. We know there’s a lot of trans activists who will probably hate us for what we’re doing. But it’s not against trans people. This is about protecting a female’s space. It’s not to hurt anybody, we want a safe policy," she continued.
Last month, some of the hospital nurses spoke to a local newspaper and remained anonymous. One of them, who suffers from PTSD after being sexually abused as a child, stated: "I was rummaging in my bag trying to find my lanyard and keys for the locker when a man’s voice behind me said, 'Are you not getting changed yet?' He stood there, two metres from me, with a scrub top on and with tight black boxer shorts with holes in them and asked [again] whether I was getting changed yet... I felt glued to my seat, I could not move. My hands started to sweat. I was petrified and felt sick and began hyperventilating."
The NHS nurses are required to change before and after their shifts as an infection control measure. Some nurses have gone to extremes to avoid being exposed to Rose, such as finding alternative areas of the hospital to change or wearing tight clothing underneath their scrubs.
A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: "The Trust would like to emphasise that at this stage the claims being made are allegations which need to be fully investigated and reviewed. The Trust has initiated this through its internal processes and this work continues. However, as the allegations are now also subject to active legal action, it would not be appropriate for the Trust to comment further at this stage."
