NHS Scotland employee takes legal action over man using female changing rooms

An employee of NHS Scotland is taking legal action after she was disciplined for objecting to a man using a female changing room.

The anonymous woman complained to NHS Fife after she encountered a male worker in the female-only changing room late at night. But in response, she was suspended for three months pending an investigation into “alleged unwanted behaviours towards another member of NHS Fife staff”.

Her legal team successfully repealed her suspension, but NHS Fife has not dropped its disciplinary process against her. The woman now intends to take her employer to an Employment Tribunal for contravening the Equality Act 2010.

Safety

Currently, NHS guidance allows men to use single-sex spaces that reflect their ‘gender identity’.

gender ideology has been allowed to trump all other considerations

But Fiona McAnena, Director of Campaigns for women’s group Sex Matters, said: “Making a female employee share changing facilities with a man who identifies as a woman and then suspending her from work for raising her concerns shows that gender ideology has been allowed to trump all other considerations.

“Do women who work in NHS Scotland not deserve privacy from the other sex? This looks like a Scottish government body prioritising the feelings of men over the safety and wellbeing of female staff members.”

‘Ideological bias’

Earlier this year, an NHS employee network was launched to advocate for sex-based care “free from ideological bias”.

There are now almost 15 Sex Equality and Equity Networks (SEEN) across several industries, including publishing, journalism and the police. The first SEEN was launched in 2022 to defend biological reality among civil servants.

SEEN in Health now exists to “create an environment in the NHS where staff feel safe and encouraged to discuss issues related to the protected characteristic of sex, so that they can speak up for themselves as employees and on behalf of patients”.

Membership is open to NHS staff across the UK, in both clinical and non-clinical roles.