UK parliament Member Backs Christian Nurse Suspended After Belief-Based Objection to Pronoun Usage
A UK nurse, identified as Melle (referred to as Jennifer in some reports), is pursuing legal action against st. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust alleging harassment, religious discrimination, adn human rights violations after being suspended following an incident involving a patient. The case has drawn national attention and the support of a Member of Parliament.
The incident stemmed from Melle’s conscientious objection to using female pronouns for a male patient, Mr. X, who is a convicted paedophile.A devout Christian, Melle explained she was willing to use the patient’s chosen name but could not, due to her religious beliefs, refer to him as a woman. Despite enduring abuse from the patient, she continued to provide his medical care.
Following an investigation by the hospital trust, Melle was reassigned. She afterward spoke to the media about the situation, prompting widespread coverage in the U.K. The trust then suspended her with pay, citing a “potential data breach.”
melle alleges the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) failed to support her, rather advising her to engage in ”reflection” to prevent similar occurrences. She has as joined the Darlington Nursing union, which wrote to Health Secretary Wes Streeting expressing concerns about her case.
While Mr. Streeting condemned the racial abuse Melle experienced, he stated he would not challenge NHS policies on pronoun usage and declined to meet with her or intervene in the matter. Though, another parliamentarian, Coutinho, has agreed to address both the hospital trust and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Coutinho released a statement emphasizing Melle’s previously unblemished record and professional conduct, even in the face of “horrific racial abuse” from the patient.”The treatment she has suffered as of radical trans ideology beggars belief,” the statement read.”Common sense must prevail, and this dedicated nurse must be allowed to return to work quickly.”
The Christian Legal Center, the legal arm of Christian Concern, is representing Melle in the case. An employment tribunal is scheduled for 2026.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, argued that the NHS is prioritizing “contested gender-identity policies over biological reality and the protected beliefs of a conscientious nurse.” She asserted that Melle is being disciplined not for any professional failings, but for “speaking truthfully and acting according to her conscience,” which Williams believes “undermines the very principles on which the NHS was founded.”
