"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 2

[ThreeWordHarpy]

Link to Thread 1, 7-Oct to 23-Oct; pre-hearing discussion, evidence from KD (Day 1) and BH (Day 2).

Five nurses working at Darlington Memorial Hospital have filed a legal case suing their employer, an NHS trust, for sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The nurses object to sharing the women’s changing facilities with a male colleague, Rose, who identifies as female. The NHS trust’s HR department dismissed the nurses’ concerns, stating they should “broaden their mindset” and “be educated”. More details can be found at Sex Matters and at Christian Concern who are supporting the nurses via the CLC.

The hearing started on October 20th, with evidence starting on October 22nd and is scheduled to last 3 weeks. To view the hearing online, requests for access had to be made by October 17th. The hearing is being live tweeted by Tribunal Tweets who have background to this case on their substack. An alternative to X is to use Nitter: nitter.net/tribunaltweets or nitter.poast.org/tribunaltweets

The Judge made clear at the start of the public hearing on Day 1 that only TT or press have permission to tweet. If online observers see/hear something in the court that isn’t reported by TT, we don’t mention it until the next time there’s a break. This is a very cautious approach to avoid any accusations of “live reporting” on MN. Commentary on the content of TT tweets is fine as soon as they’re posted on X.

Key people:
C/Ns - Claimants, the Darlington nurses
R/T/Trust - Respondent, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
J/EJ – Judge/Employment Judge
NF - Niazi Fetto KC, barrister for claimants
SC - Simon Cheetham, KC, barrister for respondents
RH - Rose Henderson, trans identifying nurse
CG – Clare Gregory, ward manager
KD – Karen Danson, first claimant to give evidence.
BH – Bethany Hutchison, second claimant to give evidence
AH – Alistair Hutchison, husband of Bethany

Other abbreviations:
WFTCHTJ – Waiting For The Conference Host To Join
ET - Employment Tribunal
DMH/H – Hospital, Darlington Memorial Hospital
CR/CF - changing room or facilities
IX - internal investigation
XX – cross examination

Was it Maya who gave expert evidence on the importance of SSS in Sandie Peggie's case?

This hearing is already running behind. Who wants to take bets on there being an extension?

@CriticalCondition Yes

TT

NF: The concern is addressed in the 'conclusion' here - says clear that Trust did allow RH to use changing room, and had done since 2019 - so that part upheld. Also says, in keeping with Trust 'transitioning at work policy'. We see policy addressed at [ref]
BH: Yes

It's doing my head that these media outlets can't say "male".

TT

NF: The last sentence - notes difficulty for employers addressing conflicts of interest in meeting EA2010 but says that is outside remit. Was your position that R should re-address the policy?
BH: Yes
J: Re-address re changing rooms?
BH: Yes

I think it was agreed that she was not an expert strictly speaking.

TT

NF: You were asked about transcript of mtg with Kemi Badenoch. J asked you about reference to R 'implementing internal investigation' and you said that meant the resolution procedure. But there were two of them - one is this we are looking at, the other is the one launched by RH.
BH: Yes

Maybe they're feeling relaxed following the withdrawal by Ms Sinclair for Monday.

TT

NF: It's mentioned in the one we are looking at. [reads very fast] It says - "out of scope, refer back for next steps". Are you aware of any 'next steps'?
BH: No

TT

NF: Aware of any decision taken about RH resolution procedure?
BH: no

Ah yes JR laboured the point that Maya had I think an agriculture degree.

TT

NF: You were asked about 'standard letters'. Have you ever been involved in a resolution procedure before?
BH: No
NF: Grievance pocess?
BH: No

Ah, the bundle question. A consistent theme throughout these tribunals.

That won't save them 😁

TT

NF: Legal proceedings? Media interaction?
BH: No

To be honest, I couldn't work out what her Maya's statss in the case was. NC said she was simply summarising all the published research for the court's convenience. Stumped, that wouldnt be allowed in a criminal trial

TT

NF: When you referred to resolution procedure as investigation to Kemi Badenoch, which of the 2 resolution procedures did you mean?
BH: Felt like both to me.
NF: No more Qs

Well that was pointless.

Well that was a bit of a farce

Poor Mr Hutchinson! All dolled up, ready to go, and instantly done!

All a bit premature 😂

TT

J: [releases BH from evidence]
J: We now have Mr Hutchison [sic] who will simply swear to his statement.
[MrH affirms his statement]

NF [takes MrH through is this your statement, your signature, you say true]
MrH Yes
NF I have no Qs.
SC: Nor do I
J: Nor do I
[MrH released from evidence]

The one time it was relevant to me they kept me waiting hours because the doc didn't want me to ho home without them. They were painkillers. I finally negotiated with the nurse that he would let me go home if I promised to get someone to pick them.up for me later. Can you do that, perhaps?

TT

[They are discussion next witness, and timings]