NMC drops case against nurse Jennifer Melle in pronouns dispute
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has dropped its case against Jennifer Melle, the nurse suspended for talking to the media about how her NHS trust treated her after she misgendered a trans patient.
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust confidentially settled its high-profile tribunal case with Melle in April, just before an employment tribunal case was to be heard where she was pursuing claims for harassment, discrimination, victimisation, and breaches of her freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
In May 2024, Melle was racially abused and physically threatened by a trans woman – a prisoner and convicted paedophile – after Melle used male pronouns during a clinical discussion. Hospital security had to intervene.
The trust investigated the incident and disciplined Melle, giving her a final written warning in December 2024. She was also reported to the NMC for “failure to treat people in your care with dignity”.
A second investigation took place after her decision to speak to the media in 2025, leading to her suspension. She was referred to the NMC again, this time for breach of confidentiality, for allegedly disclosing the patient’s confidential information to newspapers.
In January 2026, the trust abandoned a disciplinary case against Melle and allowed her to return to work.
The NMC climbdown follows months of political and public pressure over Melle’s treatment, from campaigners including JK Rowling and cross-party politicians.
In her defence to the NMC, Melle maintained that the incident with the trans patient occurred in a fast-moving clinical context where accurate sex-based language was necessary for patient care, and that her actions were shaped by her Christian belief that sex is biological and immutable.
In representations to the NMC, she said that what she said during the incident was “not about equality, diversity or inclusion” but “about a real-life medical scenario that required accurate terminology to avoid any doubt between medical professionals.”
Melle said that she had spoken to the media because she believed she was being treated like a criminal following what she regarded as a failure by the trust to deal properly with the incident.
She also believed in taking a case against her that the NMC was placing the identity of a convicted paedophile above her Christian conscience to use language that reflects biological reality.
‘No case to answer’
Following a full investigation, the NMC has now confirmed that there was “no case” for Melle to answer, that no further action would be taken, and that the case was closed.
The NMC recorded that the trust accepted Melle believed she was making a protected disclosure in the public interest and felt there was no effective internal route through which to escalate her concerns.
The regulator concluded there was “no evidence to support the allegation that a breach of confidentiality took place”, finding that the limited information disclosed did not result in the patient being identified.
It also accepted that the pronoun incident was isolated, not malicious, and arose from Melle’s protected beliefs rather than any intention to harass or bully. The NMC further recognised that she had identified a practical way forward by using patients’ preferred names rather than pronouns where conscience or belief prevents her from using language she regards as untrue.
The NMC concluded that Ms Melle did not present a current risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of the public, that no restrictions on her practice were required, and that there was no realistic possibility her fitness to practise would be found impaired.
Melle’s case has intensified calls for the NMC to drop its investigations into nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital, who are also facing regulatory scrutiny after speaking publicly about being forced to share a female changing room with a male colleague who identifies as a woman.
Four of the nurses continue to face NMC investigations after speaking to the media about their experiences, despite their ruling in January saying that speaking to the media about their experiences was “a protected act”.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust settled with seven nurses for £187,000 last month.
‘Relieved and grateful’
Responding to the NMC’s decision, Melle said: “I am relieved and grateful that the NMC has finally recognised that there is no case for me to answer. But I should never have been put through this in the first place.
“I was a nurse doing my job in a pressured clinical situation. The issue of biological sex was directly relevant to patient care. I was not seeking to humiliate or hurt anyone. I was trying to communicate accurately and safely with another medical professional.
“Instead of being protected after suffering racist abuse, I found myself treated as the problem. I was suspended, investigated, threatened with the loss of my career and reported to my regulator as though my Christian beliefs and my recognition of biological reality made me dangerous.
“It has been devastating to be labelled a risk to the public for holding beliefs which are lawful, mainstream and central to my faith. Nurses should not have to choose between their conscience, the truth, and their profession.
“The NHS only dropped its disciplinary case after public and political pressure. Yet the NMC process continued hanging over me, and I was told even ministers could not intervene. That cannot be right.”
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