Sandie Peggie employment tribunal to resume in July

The NHS Fife nurse says she was wrongfully suspended after complaining about sharing a female changing room with a trans woman doctor on Christmas Eve 2023.

First Published: 14th February 2025

The employment tribunal brought by nurse Sandie Peggie against NHS Fife and Dr Beth Upton will be continued later in the year.

Over ten days of hearings across two weeks, Judge Sandy Kemp heard testimony from both Ms Peggie and Dr Upton, as well as the claimant’s Clinical Nurse Manager, Esther Davidson.

Originally scheduled to occur across two weeks, Judge Kemp will now seek to resume hearings later in the year to complete the process.

Ms Peggie was suspended from her role at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy in January 2024, after she complained about trans woman Dr Beth Upton sharing the female changing room on Christmas Eve, just weeks before.

Ms Peggie, who began working for the Fife Health Board in 1994, raised concerns after Dr Upton used the same changing room on three occasions in 2023, prompting her to leave.

She said she had “very little” interaction with Dr Upton, whom she met in August 2023, and said: “He looked male. He had his hair in a ponytail and a receding hairline and Adam’s apple.”

Ms Peggie said she didn’t consider the incident on Christmas Eve to be a “confrontation” and denied using “offensive language” against Dr Upton.

Giving evidence, she said: “I didn’t unexpectedly stop Beth as I was already in the area waiting to go into the toilet.

“I never used any offensive language. I don’t recall using the word chromosomes. I never mentioned the word rapist. I don’t recall anything being said about mediators. I didn’t feel there was any aggression or confrontation.”

Ms Peggie has spoken about feeling intimidated when Dr Upton continued to use the changing room after the Christmas Eve altercation.

During a number of highly emotional hearings, Ms Peggie has maintained she doesn’t take issue with Dr Upton’s gender identity, only their use of the female changing room.

Ms Peggie claims that her suspension amounts to unlawful harassment under the Equality Act 2010 and set out to build a case for an employment tribunal against both NHS Fife and Dr Upton.

Previously, Dr Upton and NHS Fife had asked the original employment judge presiding over the tribunal, Judge Antoine Tinnion, to hold the sessions in private to protect the identities of those involved.

However, Ms Peggie argued successfully that the tribunal should be heard in public.

Supporters from For Women Scotland and Women Won’t Wheesht attended the tribunal over two weeks.

At a precursory meeting in January, Judge Kemp permitted Sandie Peggie to refer to Dr Upton with male pronouns, on the condition it was not done “offensively” or “gratuitously”.

The last two days of hearings have been dominated by the examination of testimony by Clinical Nurse Manager – and Sandie Peggie’s line manager – Esther Davidson.

Ms Davidson told the hearing she was informed NHS guidelines permit staff to use changing rooms that align to their identified gender.

Ms Davidson was the designated lead on the investigation into reports of misconduct and patient safety, alleged by Dr Upton, accusing Ms Peggie of leaving a resuscitation unit when the trans woman doctor entered the room, making the patient matter “more urgent”.

Throughout the proceedings, Sandie Peggie’s family and supporters have been watching from the observation room.

Speaking outside Endeavour House in Dundee, Sheila Bell said her daughter has so far “Done everything perfectly.”

Daughter Nicole said, “We’re all proud of her – all of us – the whole family.”

Dr Beth Upton did not attend the final day in this block of hearings, but the doctor will rejoin Sandie Peggie and NHS Fife in Judge Kemp’s court when tribunal hearings resume later in the year.