NHS Fife tries to silence nurse - Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton - thread #16

[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 February 2025 and was expected to continue for 2 weeks. However, it is going to overrun and there will be an adjournment with the hearing resuming, possibly, in July. The hearing commenced with Sandie Peggie giving evidence. Dr Beth Upton gave evidence from Thursday 6 February to Wednesday 12 February.

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

However, as a result of problems with the livestreaming, apparently as a result of a very large number of observers, remote public access to the hearing was suspended on Tuesday 11 February. It was suggested that it might be reinstated at some point but don't count on it.

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: https://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
Thread 6: 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
Thread 7: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5270365-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-7
Thread 8: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5271511-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-8
Thread 9: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5271596-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-9
Thread 10: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5271723-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-10
Thread 11: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5272046-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-11
Thread 12: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5272276-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-12
Thread 13: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5272398-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-13
Thread 14: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5272939-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-14
Thread 15: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5273119-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-15

A request to people reading the thread. We've seen what a nightmare this has been for Sandie, and what a gruelling and uncertain experience going through an Employment Tribunal is. It would be even harder going through it and worrying about how to fund it.

Other women are going through similar experiences and need our support, so at least they're able to focus on the important parts and not worry all the time about funding. See this post from @FayeRC from the previous thread:

To those who don't know me, I have filed a similar employment tribunal complaint against a large public sector employer in England's side, also represented by Naomi Cunningham. Second preliminary hearing will be in February. More info available on CrowdJustice.com, pls search for Faye Russell-Caldicott.

The last weekend before the prel hearing is now approaching, all support would be hugely appreciated.

Please note this:

However, as a result of problems with the livestreaming, apparently, as a result of a very large number of observers, remote public access to the hearing was suspended on Tuesday 11 February. It was suggested that it might be reinstated at some point but don't count on it.

If you've got a Twitter account and want a "clean" timeline of the tweeting by Tribunal Tweets, use this link:

https://x.com/search?q=from%3Atribunaltweets&src=typed_query&f=live

One handy thing about it is that if you scroll to the top of the tweets shown, the timeline automatically refreshes.

Placemarking

Also Sarah Holman Harassed and Victimised for supporting Women’s Rights - hasnt found mumsnet so tends not to get the same support.

For anyone following Tribunal Tweets, this is their list of the abbreviations used:

C/SP - Claimant, Sandy Peggie
NC - Naomi Cunningham, C’s barrister
MG - Margaret Gribbons, C’s solicitor
R1/Board - first respondent, Fife Health Board
R2/DU - second respondent, Dr B Upton
JR - Jane Russell, KC, barrister for Rs
AW - Adam Watson, solicitor for Rs
J - Employment Judge Alexander Kemp
ET - Employment Tribunal
P1, P2 - additional panel members
CR - changing room
AE - Accident & emergency department
B&H - bullying and harassment
SocMed - social media
SM - Sex Matters
HR - Human Rights
TW - Transwoman
HI - hate incident
PCP - provision, criteria or practice is a rule/policy/ practice that can put ppl at a disadvantage based on certain characteristics. The term is used in employment law to assess whether an employers actions create different outcomes for employees based on their characteristics.
KS - Kate Searle, DU's supervisor and A&E consultant
ED - Esther Davidson, SP’s line manager
SF - Stuart Fraser, SP’s RCN Rep
AG - Angela Glancy, headed up SP's investigation
IX - investigation
CX or FC - (formal) complaint
DX - disciplinary
FtP - fitness to practice

❤️

checking in, thanks @nauticant for the new thread.

Thanks @nauticant

So ED suspended SP for her own benefit, to stop upsetting incidents for her. Rather than doing her actual job which is to manage difficult situations on behalf of her team

Rumours aren’t facts and it’s DU imposing his beliefs on everyone else.
This whole charade makes my blood boil!

ED - in my office, AS was there also

JR - what did you say

ED - mostly it was chat with AS, about the suspension, and the IX process, we also checked that SP was happy for the meeting to go forward and for her to be unrepresented. The decision for everyone's safety was to

So far even though it is Fife's counsel this is not putting Fife in a good light.

ED seems to helping SP case no end. Seems to be very obvious that they decided SP was a troublemaker before they’d even conducted their so called investigation

suspend SP.

JR - who communicated that

ED - AS did most of the talking but I was also present

JR - when was first time she was told she was being suspended

ED - at that meeting, 3 Jan

JR - what support did you offer

ED - at that meeting SP was visibly upset, she was shaking

ND: We also checked that SP was happy for the meeting to go forward and for her to be unrepresented.

SP had no representation.

Anyone catch who AS is, that's not on the list?

No legal right to representation at a suspension meeting.

So this isn't an issue.

They put Sandie on the spot there. Find out what the fuck was going on or leave non the wiser and get representation.

What do you do in the moment?

and angry. I was going to make a referral to Occupation Health Service (OHS), I also sent a letter reiterating that about when she could get help.

JR - you said she was angry how did you know

ED - she was flushed, shaking and quite tense. I offered her an opportunity to exit

I just can’t believe someone was suspended on so little evidence of anything. Suspension can be used against very serious allegations but a mild bit of heresay it is extraordinary

ED - Beth had been working in the dept, we knew Beth, I didn't communicate to anyone on the staff, I didn't think
hat there was any need to do any further communication about sexual orientation or identity. The staff had accepted Beth as a woman, no need to say anything further
JR - and why was that
ED - I didn't think there was any need and I didn't want Beth to feel unwelcome in the department

so everyone knew this wasn't an actual woman

Thank you one and all.

ED - she was flushed, shaking and quite tense. I offered her an opportunity to exit