Women’s Rights Network

In Conversation with The Darlington Nurses

Women’s Right Network

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 40:59

Send us Fan Mail

Heather Binning is joined by two of the Darlington Nurses - lead claimant Bethany Hutchison and Lisa Lockey.

In 2023, eight nurses from the Day Surgery Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital filed a discrimination claim against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust for for sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

Female staff were forced to share their female changing room with Rose Henderson, a male member of staff.  Henderson was described by the tribunal as "a biological male who identifies as female and has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment".

The Employment Tribunal ruled that the NHS unlawfully discriminated against and harassed the nurses by requiring them to share female-only changing rooms with a male member of staff, and confirmed that the Trust's policy allowing men into women's spaces was unlawful and violated the rights of female staff.

Bethany and Lisa speak candidly about what drove them to take action and the underhand tactics deployed by management before and during the tribunal.

Hear first-hand accounts of the highs and lows of their legal battle and how some colleagues, through fear or pressure, have distanced themselves from the women.

Bethany also discusses the newly formed Darlington Nursing Union, founded to help other medical professionals fight unlawful treatment.

---

Useful Links:

Twitter: @DarlingtonUnion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Darlington-Nursing-Union-61566543745560/
Email:  info@darlingtonnursingunion.uk

Christian Legal Centre: https://christianconcern.com/about/services/christian-legal-centre/

Tribunal Transcript: https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/eight-nurses-v-county-durham-and

---

If you would like to apply to JOIN the Women’s Rights Network, please visit https://www.womensrights.network/join-wrn

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to hear more, go to womensrights.network/wrn-podcast to listen, download and subscribe to more of our episodes.  

And if you’d like to join our conversations, go to womensrights.network/join-wrn