NHS Nurse Who Was Suspended After Calling Trans Paedophile Patient ‘Mr’ Returns To Work Today
It seems that common sense has prevailed in the case of the NHS nurse who called a transgender paedophile patient ‘Mr’, after she was allowed to return to work this week.
Jennifer Melle, 41, was suspended from St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, in May 2024, and investigated over refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a transgender paedophile.
Melle was helping to treat an inmate from a high-security men’s prison when the patient complained she had misgendered them.
In response to being misgendered, the patient racially abused Melle and called her the N-word several times, while they were restrained in their hospital bed.
Melle says she refused to refer to the 6ft transgender paedophile by their preferred pronouns because it goes against her Christian beliefs.
She was investigated by the hospital in October 2024 while suspended on full pay, and a referral was sent to the Nursing and Midwifery Council to assess her ability to practise in accordance with its code of conduct – which forbids nurses from expressing personal beliefs.
Melle told LBC: “A patient was admitted and he came from a male prison.
“He was being looked after by another nurse that night. I was the nurse in charge that night. The nurse came over for help…. Really very shaken and very distressed.
“I said we will come and help.
“When I spoke to the doctor, the patient overheard me calling him Mr and that’s how he became very outraged and began to call me the n-word.
“He appeared very, very aggressive. He began to shout the n-word multiple times.”
She said she told him “I can’t refer to you as a woman as it is against my faith.
“He launched at me and had to be restrained by the prison guards. He was in handcuffs, both hand and foot.
“For me it is against by belief and to go against the word of god for me to refer to a man as a woman. It’s also against my conscience.”
She said her view was that “It’s a man, six foot tall in a male prison.”
Melle says she was shocked to receive a call later that night informing her that the patient had complained about her misgendering them, and that she would have to give a statement and be moved to a different department and face disciplinary action.
She was made to attend several meetings where she stood firm on her stance, and told bosses she would refer to patients by their names from now on. For almost two years, she remained in limbo while the NHS waited for updated guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Melle said at the time that the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) had ‘totally let her down.’
“I’m praying and hoping… they would adhere to the Supreme Court ruling… and let me back to work.”
Well, that day has finally come as Melle officially returned to her clinical duties at St Helier Hospital on Monday.
It’s not over yet, though; while the the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has dropped data breach allegations against Melle (for talking publicly about the incident), she still faces a “fitness to practise” investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council related to the “misgendering”. How have they not wrapped this up yet? Absolutely useless!
Melle, who is supported by the Christian Legal Centre, stated that while she is glad to return, her case serves as a warning against punishing staff for “speaking about biological reality”.
For the racist couple who went viral for asking an NHS nurse if she ‘came here on a rubber boat’, click HERE.
