Nurses have testified at an employment tribunal that their trade union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has abandoned them during disputes over gender-critical beliefs and pronoun usage. Bethany Hutchison, who previously won a landmark case against the NHS over workplace facilities, told the tribunal she has "become completely disillusioned" with the RCN, and Jennifer Melle testified that the union failed to support her when she was disciplined for using the "wrong" pronouns with a patient. The testimony forms part of Sandie Peggie's case against the RCN, in which the 53-year-old nurse claims the union discriminated against her because of her gender-critical views after she objected to sharing a changing room with trans colleague Dr Beth Upton.

The tribunal has heard evidence about several related cases. Hutchison was among seven nurses at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust who won an earlier case establishing that their employer had created a "hostile environment" when they objected to biological male Rose Henderson using single-sex facilities. Melle secured a settlement from Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust earlier this year after being suspended for referring to a convicted paedophile patient using masculine pronouns rather than the ones the patient identified with. The RCN's counsel responded that union representatives had been in contact with affected members, though he acknowledged they had no way of knowing the depth of members' concerns.