Trust apologises to nurses over changing room ruling

MOVE COMES AFTER TRIBUNAL BACKS COMPLAINT OVER TRANS COLLEAGUE

- By Owen Younger

A HEALTH trust has apologised to nurses after a changing room tribunal ruling.

The County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: "We did not adequately consider your concerns", after staff complained about a trans colleague using single-sex changing rooms.

Seven members of the Day Surgery Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital brought a claim against the trust after Rose Henderson, who was born male but identifies as a woman, was allowed to use the women's changing facilities.

January's employment tribunal found that sharing single-sex changing rooms with a trans colleague created "a hostile, intimidating, humiliating, and degrading environment" for the nurses, with the trust saying this week that it has formally apologised to the women as part of an agreement.

The trust also added that it has "developed unisex facilities to ensure that single-sex facilities are used based on biological sex".

According to the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which has supported the women during the process, the agreement includes paying out £187,000 in damages.