Seven Darlington nurses who won a landmark discrimination case against NHS bosses are now seeking to recover £400,000 in legal costs.
The nurses, called the “Magnificent Seven” and the “Angels of the North”, brought a claim after being made to share changing rooms with a transgender colleague.
Read Also: Andy Burnham's speech to MPs torn apart ahead of first PMQs: 'Hope is NOT a strategy!'
An employment tribunal heard yesterday that the group had applied to recover 90 per cent of their lawyers’ fees.
In January, NHS managers were found guilty of “violating” the nurses’ dignity.
Read Also: Sadiq Khan convicted by DVLA for failing to tax a car 'he doesn't own'
A specialist judge previously rule the women had been discriminated against and harassed by managers at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
The case centred on Rose Henderson, a trans woman colleague who was permitted to use the women’s changing facilities at Darlington Memorial Hospital.
The trust had unlawfully required them to share female-only changing rooms with a biological male.
However, the judgment made clear that Rose Henderson had not personally harassed or victimised the claimants.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has issued a formal apology and agreed to pay £187,000 in damages to the seven nurses.
It is understood the trust’s own legal costs in defending the claim stand at a minimum of £600,000.
However, overall costs are estimated to be double this figure, the Times reports.
A witness statement submitted to Newcastle Employment Tribunal yesterday, from the former public governor Stephen Twist, revealed managers pressed ahead with their defence despite repeated warnings over costs.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Wales’s only trans clinic urgently halts operations over safety concerns
- ‘Genderless’ police officers issued separate warrant cards to use based on ‘how they feel that day’
- Unions join forces to defy Supreme Court’s ‘unacceptable’ single-sex space ruling
Mr Twist’s statement detailed a series of concerns he raised with senior trust figures throughout the latter half of 2024.
He said he flagged concerns regarding the dispute within days of learning about it.
Despite this, the tribunal heard NHS managers pushed ahead with contesting the claim, which culminated in a three-week final hearing held last year.
The nurses are now asking the tribunal to order the trust to pay at least 90 per cent of their costs.
If granted, this could push the NHS’s total legal costs to more than £1.5million.
The trust has contested the costs application and the presiding judge, Seamus Sweeney, has reserved his decision for a later date.
As part of the application, the nurses argued they were forced to obtain expert evidence due to the trust’s continued dispute of a key claim.
This claim centred on whether women are generally more likely than men to experience fear, distress or humiliation when made to undress in front of someone of the opposite sex.
Lawyers for the nurses said the trust effectively conceded the case only after the expert evidence has been commissioned and presented.
The nurses also noted they had offered settlement terms ahead of the hearing, which were rejected by the trust.
They argued agreeing on the central issues earlier would have significantly reduced costs linked to preparing witness evidence and conducting the lengthy hearing.
In last year’s original ruling, the judge found requiring the nurses to share a changing room with a biological male who identifies as a trans woman amounted to unwanted conduct related to sex and gender reassignment.
The judge said this conduct had the effect of violating the claimants’ dignity and creating a hostile, humiliating and degrading environment for them.
Bethany Hutchison, one of the nurses involved and president of the Darlington Nursing Union, said ahead of the costs hearing the group had not wanted to spend years in legal proceedings against their own employer.
She said: “We wanted our employer to listen to women, respect our dignity and provide lawful changing facilities in which we could prepare for our shifts in privacy.”
Ms Hutchison added the trust should be held responsible for legal costs she said could and should have been avoided, describing the case as a matter of public money and NHS accountability.
Our Standards:
The GB News Editorial Charter
