NHS Fife tries to silence nurse - Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton - thread #5

[nauticant]

Sandie Peggie, a nurse at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy (VH), has brought claims in the employment tribunal against her employer; Fife Health Board (the Board) and another employee, Dr B Upton. Ms Peggie’s claims are of sexual harassment, harassment related to a protected belief, indirect discrimination and victimisation. Dr Upton claims to be a transwoman, that is observed as male at birth but asserting a female gender identity.

The Employment Tribunal hearing started on Monday 3 January 2025 and is expected to continue for 2 weeks. The hearing commenced with Sandie Peggie giving evidence. Dr Beth Upton started giving evidence on 6 February.

Access to view the hearing remotely can be obtained by sending an email request to [email protected] headed Public Access Request (Peggie v Fife Health Board) 4104864/2024 and requesting access.

The hearing is being live tweeted by https://x.com/tribunaltweets and there's additional information here: https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/peggie-vs-fife-health-board-and-dr. This also has threadreaderapp archives of live-tweeting of the sessions of the hearing for those who can't follow on Twitter, for example: archive.is/xkSxy.

An alternative to Twitter is to use Nitter: https://nitter.poast.org/tribunaltweets

Thread 1: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5186317-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse

Thread 2: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5267591-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-thread-2

Thread 3: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5268347-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-3

Thread 4: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5268942-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-4

'Fundamentally we have no idea when 'formal complaint' - we know it was made 31st December 2023 by BU - we have no idea who at board received it'

'Further indication of defiance of Judge's order when we pressed for correspondence between BMA and respondent'

'Recently disclosed material betrayed that other material must exist'

Very grateful for NC pointing out that the stakes for all parties are extremely high. The seriousness of this (it seemed to me) was getting lost yesterday.

I think £200,000 is a low estimate. But NHS Scotland have an interest in this case so I guess they don't care about the cost. Or about the dignity and safety of women patients and staff

Upton’s mum has gone as pale as the person next to her.
Dr Upton, however, seems to becoming pinker as NC reads out all the suspected shenanigans

'numerous indications that respondent has been careless or incompetent in complying with Judge Tinney's[?] order'

• Dr U has not complied with judge order to produce emails with BMA

Listening to NC's explanations, I am more worried than ever that the NHS have served DU extremely badly. NOTE I HAVE NO IDEA THIS IS ME SPECULATING but did NHS actually egg DU on to make a specific kind of complaint (re professional conduct of SP for example0 in some way? He should sue them if that is the case.

NC: respondents have not merely been careless or incompetent ... but have deliberately defied it

So DU made copious notes about SP, but he didn't make any notes after any formal meetings management.

Sure, Jan. 🤨

'reason for aborting one investigation and starting another reason seems to be sickness of Michelle [?]'

I agree, it's appalling.

I really hope after this over some heads roll at NHS Fife.

Just a tad!

He's uncrossed his arms now.

That is really powerful. DU’s behaviour is now firmly in the spotlight.

I’m starting to wonder have they thrown him under the bus. Not that I have any sympathy for him mind.

'Glancy's response explanation for delay is partial and misleading'

'a slow and reluctant trickle of compliance with Judge's order'

Could anyone clarify the body language of DU's mum and dad for those of us not watching?

I've spent the last hour responding to an NHS complaint and yes, there is always an email trail.

'Explanation of the delay to the investigation, is at best misleading'. Or, in other words a LIE.

Sorry for annoying questions - how do we know who is who in the back row?

From the submissions this morning and stream of demands by C for various materials, it must have been obvious to Fife’s solicitors (or is it some nhs in-house litigation team?) that there had been non compliance with the judge’s order.

interesting to see that C’s team has also for the metadata. That suggests to me that they want to be sure what changes to documents were made when.

'brings us to question fo what claimant is asking tribunal to do about this'
'clearly futile to ask respondent to comply with judge's order'
'we'd like to ask for specific instructions for searches'

This thread is going like a rocket so I've started the continuation thread early:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5269635-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-6

But could people fill up this thread first before they move over to the new one?

NC won't want an adjournment so that the defendants can produce the missing disclosure. She will want the tribunal to conclude that the respondents are trying to hide evidence that shows beyond any doubt that they failed to follow the correct process and did not have any reasonable justification for their actions.

NC wants the judge to specify particular searches the respondents must do

'steps must be taken to comply with order'
'full documentation of change of investigator'
'full documentation of Esther Davidson's investigation'

NC asking for specific directions for the proper search of various people's inboxes for this material.