NHS Fife tries to silence nurse - Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton - thread #6

[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

Thread 5: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5269149-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-5

NC doesn't want adjournment, will ahead on Monday - asking them to find as much as they can.

NC being very understanding, get the info sorted, but we'll continue without for now it seems.

@CharlotteFlax it seems to be whatever works for you.

I'm on my phone using Chrome, I login with Audio & Video then ensure camera and mic are off. Others seem to get in via 'observer', which doesn't work for me

NC talking about a 'striking' email from Searle to 17 others which would almost certainly have elicited a response.

Well, it is an adversarial system. But it's more common for barristers to refer to each other as "my learned friend" than either, or if there are more than two, "my learned friend for the Crown / First Defendant / whatever". "Oppo" is more usually used to refer to the barrister on the other side outside court IME.

Is it just me getting an echo

I think NC is trying to show that SP was suspended on the basis of the hate incident which was reported to SP's colleagues in A&E on 29th Dec. It was only later that the professional misconduct seems to have been included in a subsequent formal investigation. SP was written to by the trust in March saying she had to work day shifts to be under supervision because of the accusation of poor patient care. So latterly there was confusion about why exactly she was suspended which is not OK because the evidence of prof misconduct seems to be very slight.

It seems likely that the NHS aren't hiding these emails exactly but if they haven't included them in the bundle and not dealt with them previously, then possibly the NHS Fife has failed to realise that they made a procedural error in handling SP's case. This could call into question the professional conduct element of the NHS claim against SP and so it might be possible to drop this from the ET - avoiding significant implications for SP and her future career.

I'm back! Some crazy shenanigans have occurred I see.

JR has asked Adam Russell to write letter to tribunal about the MS teams - confirm no notes, spec the role of Esther Davidson, to describe that. And about Kate Searle and the emails that have been found. He will be doing that today.

Marking place. What a mess NHS Fife seem to be.

I've been lurking throughout, but have finally cracked and emailed asking for access - can't miss the indomitable Naomi Cunningham on Monday!

Judge - we've got some further documents - email from Mr Watson, today, with attachments. Will add to bundle.

<bundle arrangement discussion>

Can we use the same link to access on Monday/ Tuesday etc.?

Yes same link

I think we all want to hear more about that email!

What a ride today has been

JR - told complaint was sent by 2 respondent to Mr Watson, who then sent to board.

J - yes, but I'm asking for rthe email from 2nd respondent to Mr Watson.

[he sounds quite snippy and pissed off tbh]

Michelle Sinclair Farrow= MSF

NC - they want forwarded emails, not pdfs.

That's what i thought. But i thought i was maybe over simplifying it?

It would be a massive pain in the arse, and would ruin everyone's weekends, but it's doable.

NC wants the meta data, looking for the fuckery.

NC making clear exactly what documents are required. Talk of PDFs, original attachments and metadata.

In some ways today feels a bit flat, probably as it didn't pan out as expected, but having said that it's been an incredibly important day as it shows up NHS Fife as either completely incompetent or nefarious in their handling of all this to the panel

Judge is crackly and inaudible. He's asking for any and all relevant comments, docs, notes, etc. to be sent.

Judge seems to be very thorough and wanting everything

If there is correspondence in the bundle saying this issue was escalated to the Board, then why is it not referred to in the NHS Fife Board minutes for June or Sept 2024?
https://www.nhsfife.org/media/koonmwl4/boardbook-fife-nhs-board-dated-25-september-2024.pdf