Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy, and Tracey Hooper say they were told to “be more inclusive” and to “broaden their mindset” when they raised concerns about undressing in front of Rose Henderson, a male nurse who identifies as female but has not undergone any physical or hormonal transition, reports GB News.
The four women have filed legal action against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, alleging sexual harassment and discrimination. Their tribunal is scheduled for later this month. In the meantime, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has confirmed it is assessing four public complaints made against the nurses following media coverage of their case.
In a written statement, the NMC said it is gathering “information and [will] assess whether the concerns raised require a full NMC investigation.” Such inquiries can take years to conclude and can put careers on hold in the process.
The nurses are being represented by the Christian Legal Centre, which argues that the complaints are politically motivated and legally baseless. Lawyers for the group said the women’s actions were “protected under the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act” and that they acted “in good faith, with legal advice and in full compliance with the NMC Code.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “It’s quite something that these nurses are being disciplined for believing in biology; that men are men and women are women. They are not being targeted for misconduct, but for standing up for basic rights and safeguarding.”
She added that it “takes extraordinary courage” to defend single-sex spaces within the NHS and warned the NMC not to allow itself to become “a tool of ideological enforcement.”
Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho also weighed in, calling the situation “madness” and urging Health Secretary Wes Streeting to step in. “It is beyond belief that these four remarkable nurses may now be dragged through another vexatious disciplinary process simply because they stood up against radical transgender ideology in the NHS and defended their legal right to single-sex spaces,” she said.
Coutinho argued that NHS leadership has been “captured by an ideology that wants to pretend that biological sex isn’t real and puts the feelings of transgender women above the rights of women to get changed in dignity, privacy, and safety.”
The controversy is similar to cases across the UK, including that of London nurse Jennifer Melle, who was suspended earlier this year for addressing a transgender patient as “Mr.”
