I'm sorry if this has been brought up before, but there is a person who goes by the handle of boswelltoday on Twitter (now X).
He has done absolutely fantastic summaries of each morning and afternoon. If you don't have the time to read the entirety of Tribunal Tweets then this is a good alternative.
This is from this morning:
Day 2 | AM Session | Peggie Sandie v NHS Fife & Dr Upton
“I Don’t Recall”: Nursing Director’s Forgetfulness Undermines NHS Fife’s Case
By the end of the morning, one thing was clear: Gillian Malone, Director of Nursing at NHS Fife, is paid to manage a system she barely understands—and is seemingly unwilling to defend.
Malone testified today in the Peggie v NHS Fife & Dr Upton tribunal, and what emerged was not leadership but evasion. Asked basic questions about her oversight responsibilities during a high-stakes disciplinary process, Malone repeatedly floundered. “I can’t recall,” she said. “That’s not my recollection.” “It was ED’s decision.”
Time and again, she passed the buck to Esther Davidson—a subordinate who had only just started in her managerial role at the time of the events in question. Asked whether Davidson had completed a proper risk assessment before suspending a long-serving nurse, Malone admitted she didn’t know. Asked whether she had read the incident report—the Datix—that triggered the investigation, Malone shrugged: she’d been “off duty” over the holidays.
That incident, occurring on Christmas Eve, was the alleged confrontation between Sandy Peggie and Dr Beth Upton in a female changing room. It was the foundation for Peggie’s suspension. And yet Malone, the senior nurse with theoretical oversight of the process, appeared stunningly detached from the facts. She hadn’t reviewed the underlying risk assessments. She couldn’t say whether Davidson had sufficient experience. She couldn’t remember whether other incidents had even occurred.
The contradictions were glaring. Under questioning by Naomi Cunningham KC, Malone insisted that Peggie’s suspension was not based on a single interaction. But when pressed, she conceded that the entire episode circled around “the allegation”—singular—referring to the Christmas Eve changing room event. No corroborating evidence of patient harm. No pattern of misconduct. Just one incident, vague and unproven, inflated into a justification for disciplinary action.
More disturbing still were Malone’s views on what constitutes “discrimination.” Asked if it would be discriminatory for a nurse to question a male colleague’s use of the female changing room—even without aggression—Malone answered, unequivocally, “Yes.” It had been “addressed,” she said. The man—Dr Upton—had declared himself a woman. That, in Malone’s view, ended the discussion. Any woman who raised a concern was the problem.
Malone acknowledged that she had recommended “trans awareness training,” and admitted that NHS Fife had taken advice affirming that Upton was entitled to use the women’s facilities. Yet nowhere in her testimony did she address what rights Peggie might have had—or how her privacy, safety, or beliefs were factored into the decision.
Under cross-examination, Malone appeared not just evasive but deeply unprepared. She relied on vague claims of “risk” without ever pointing to documented assessments. She misremembered timelines, conflated incident types, and ultimately revealed a culture where managerial decisions were made by assumption, not evidence.
What emerged was not just a lack of rigour but a disregard for fairness. NHS Fife appeared to operate a one-way system: gender identity claims were accepted at face value, without scrutiny, while any objections—no matter how respectfully stated—were treated as disciplinary offenses.
Gillian Malone didn’t just fail to lead. She failed to explain, failed to remember, and failed to justify an institutional response that left a woman suspended, unsupported, and accused - without clear cause.
This wasn’t due diligence. It was bureaucratic abdication, wrapped in DEI language and executed by managers too uncertain to question policy - or even read their own reports. The tribunal continues. But after this testimony, the rot inside NHS Fife’s leadership is no longer in doubt.
https://x.com/boswelltoday/status/1945823218956140578
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And this was his tweet about the afternoon session today:
Day 2 | PM Session | Peggie Sandie v NHS Fife & Dr Upton* *
Confidentiality Collapsed, Safeguarding Side-Stepped: NHS Fife’s Leadership in Disarray
By the end of the afternoon, the tribunal had laid bare a pattern of procedural collapse, managerial confusion, and ideological rigidity. Gillian Malone, Director of Nursing at NHS Fife, returned to the stand- but this time, the focus was sharper. Under questioning from Naomi Cunningham KC and the tribunal panel itself, Malone’s role in the suspension of Sandy Peggie became both clearer and more troubling.
Confidentiality, supposedly a pillar of the disciplinary process, had not just eroded - it was weaponised. Documents showed that SP was not explicitly warned to keep quiet until months after her suspension. Meanwhile, senior NHS staff - including investigators and potential witnesses - were openly emailing one another, sharing statements, and circulating details about the case. Consultants were briefed on SP’s version of events before an investigation had even begun.
Malone could not explain it. She agreed that this was not how it should have been handled. But once again, she claimed detachment from responsibility: the decisions weren’t hers. She hadn’t seen key documents until the tribunal bundle. She didn’t recall appointing investigators. She didn’t know why months passed between telling AG to investigate and the process actually starting.
Yet the fallout from these decisions was undeniable. SP had told managers she felt isolated - colleagues had been told not to speak to her. The environment had become, in her words, humiliating and intimidating. But Malone, when pressed, downgraded the situation to merely “awkward.”
It wasn’t just the process that had failed. It was the principle. SP had raised a concern about a male colleague - Dr Beth Upton - using the female-only changing room. Rather than accommodate her rights, NHS Fife tried to silence her. An internal email from Lottie Miles showed that managers sought to prevent SP from referring to Upton as “he” or “man”—language entirely in line with her protected belief that sex is real and relevant. Malone insisted this wasn’t an attempt to suppress GC views, but the effect was unmistakable: SP was gagged, while Upton was shielded.
The panel drilled down into the authority structure. If Malone wasn’t responsible, who was? She admitted her job included governance, complaints, and adverse events - yet she’d left the core of the investigation to a junior colleague, Esther Davidson, who had only just taken on her post. Even then, there was no documentation, no clarity on timelines, no evidence of proper risk assessments before the decision to suspend.
In a moment of rhetorical clarity, Cunningham posed a hypothetical: if a male employee walked in on a woman changing, that would be sexual harassment. If he installed a camera, unquestionably so. But what if he said, “I’m a woman now” - would that change the reality of the intrusion? Even Malone agreed: it shouldn’t. And yet that is precisely what NHS Fife allowed. Because DU said he was a woman, female staff were told to accommodate him - or face sanction.
Asked whether DU’s behaviour on Christmas Eve constituted sexual harassment, Malone’s answer was damning: “No. It was SP who behaved unprofessionally.”
It was a chilling inversion. The woman who raised a safeguarding concern became the problem. The man whose presence triggered discomfort became the protected party. The institution wrapped it all in DEI compliance and left fairness behind.
Today’s testimony didn’t just expose administrative error. It revealed an NHS leadership culture where policy replaces judgment, where belief in biological sex is suspect, and where women who speak up face censure - not support.
The tribunal continues. But after this, the question is not whether NHS Fife followed process. It’s whether the process itself is fit for women at all.
https://x.com/boswelltoday/status/1945871814737191176
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His summaries of Day One, with Isla Bumba, are also on Twitter.
I've found his summaries very useful indeed.