NHS Fife fights for secret hearings in landmark legal action over trans woman in female changing room

NHS Fife is facing landmark legal action by a nurse suspended after complaining about a transwoman in a female changing room.

A health board facing landmark legal action by a nurse suspended after complaining about a transwoman in a female changing room is fighting to have proceedings held in secret.

NHS Fife are spending public money to stop the ten-day hearing - which could cost around £200,000 - from becoming public.

The nurse, who has worked for the NHS for 30 years, took the case to an employment tribunal after she was disciplined.

She claimed the co-worker started to undress in front of her when they were alone in the room on Christmas Eve last year.

She was suspended and accused of bullying by the trans colleague who is biologically male but who identifies as a woman.

Lawyers for NHS Fife have now made an application to tribunal judges for a Rule 50 Order to protect the anonymity of all involved and restrict reporting ahead of the Edinburgh tribunal in February.

But the Sunday Mail understands the nurse wants the details of the case to be heard in public.

She is claiming health bosses suggested she should get changed in a cupboard if she was uncomfortable and then later tried to get her to switch her hours and move her to a different place of work within NHS Fife.

In the first case of its kind in Scotland, the nurse will claim that her employers are breaching the Equality Act which protects female-only spaces.

A source said: “At one point, it was suggested that if she was unhappy she could go and change in a nearby cupboard.

“But on Christmas Eve during her shift she was forced to have to change her clothes after they became soiled and went to the changing room. She found herself alone with the same co-worker present and told him she was very uncomfortable.

“She was upset and turned her back on him but he claimed he had as much right to be in there as she did.

“The nurse then made reference to the recent case of Isla Bryson, the male rapist who had been in the news when he was initially sent to a women’s prison, in an attempt to explain why women were anxious about males in female spaces.”

Bryson’s case, which caused public and political uproar, came after the Gender Recognition Reform Bill was passed in Holyrood in December 2022.

The bill allowed anyone to obtain a gender recognition certificate by signing a declaration, making it easier for people to change gender.

A hearing to decide if the nurse’s employment tribunal will be heard in private is due to take place next month.

Two top London barristers have been drafted to represent both sides in the case.

Naomi Cunningham, who represented caseworker Roz Adams when she won a tribunal against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, is acting for the nurse.

Jane Russell, a high-profile employment tribunal specialist, is acting for Fife Health Board and the co-respondent who is the transwoman.

The nurse’s suspension was lifted in April following intervention by her solicitor amid the disciplinary process against her.

Solicitor Margaret Gribbon of Bridge Employment Solicitors in Glasgow, who represents the nurse, said: “My client’s case involves legal challenges under the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 to Fife Health Board’s policies contending that they fail to provide suitable single sex changing facilities and toilets to staff.

“Many other Health Boards and public sector organisations in Scotland operate similar policies and so the outcome of this case is likely to affect tens of thousands of women.

“The case is therefore of huge public interest and the Board’s attempts for my client’s hearing to be heard in private will be opposed.”

Campaign group For Women Scotland said: “Many women work in the NHS, and hospital rules require them to change at the start and end of the shift on the premises. One man granted access to a female changing room will, therefore, impact the lives of many women.”

NHS Fife said: “NHS Fife has a duty of care to all our staff and is committed to ensuring a safe and inclusive working environment for all.

“Due to the on-going legal process, it would be inappropriate for NHS Fife to comment further.”

The RCN nursing union said they did not comment on individual cases.

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