TLDR: The long-awaited results of the Darlington Nurses tribunal ruled that a trans woman operating theatre practitioner who used a women's changing area did not harass or victimise eight nurses, as they have long claimed. However, it ruled that the NHS trust did indirectly discriminate against and harass the nurses by allowing Trans+ people to use the single sex space.
An employment tribunal has exonerated a trans woman, who faced accusations of harassment and discrimination for using a women's changing room at the County Durham and Darlington Trust.
However, it also concluded that the trust had harassed the group of eight nurses by allowing Trans+ people to use the changing rooms and bathroom of their choice.
The employment tribunal will have legal implications for the NHS Trust, which will now likely need to institute Trans+ segregation in response to the ruling.
However, it concludes differently from two other similar rulings that decided segregation was not necessary. In December, the Sandie Peggie tribunal in Scotland ruled that the 2025 Supreme Court decision on the meaning of ‘woman’ in the Equality Act does not require a Trans+ bathroom ban.
Meanwhile, Maria Kelley, who objected to trans women being able to use bathrooms at her former employer, the aerospace company Leonardos, has lost her employment tribunal. It ruled that Trans+ inclusion in single-sex spaces did not place females at a significant disadvantage compared with male staff.
The judgment against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, however, found that allowing Trans+ people to share single-sex spaces was "violating the dignity" of the Claimants and created a "hostile, humiliating and degrading environment" for them.
The 'Darlington Nurses', who've been supported by anti-LGBTQIA+ pressure group Christian Concern, said they were "delighted" with the outcome.
In a press conference, the nurses spoke about being "gaslit" and "silenced" by the NHS Trust. Theirs has since become one of the most widely discussed cases regarding Trans+ rights in the UK, with regular coverage in mainstream newspapers.
Analysis: Far from crystal clear, this judgment further muddies the waters
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of ‘woman’ under the Equality Act 2010, the response from the media, politicians and anti-trans rabble was unanimous: this ruling is crystal clear.
What's happened since shows it's been anything but. It has instead opened up a series of contradictory court decisions and litigation that is dragging individual Trans+ workers into the limelight and chewing them up in the process.
Now two tribunals say the Supreme Court decision doesn't require segregation, in contrast to the Darlington Nurses ruling, which says without segregation you're harassing women. It seems even the judiciary can't comprehend the ramifications of a decision that caught everyone off guard.
One thing is clear: perhaps one of the most defining hurdles ahead will be the upcoming judgment in a judicial review against the EHRC, whose interpretation in an 'interim update' sparked Trans+ bathroom bans across the UK.
If they are found to have acted wrongly, or the court joins the Equalities Minister in questioning the logic of Trans+ bathroom bans, it could be significant. Equally, if it sides with the EHRC, it could lift the only barrier the government feels like it has in its way to implement guidance that could enforce segregation across the country.
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