NHS Fife tries to silence nurse - Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton - thread #31

[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 last 2 weeks. However, after 2 weeks it was not complete and it adjourned part-heard. It resumed on 16 July and the last day of evidence will be 28 July and then there will be 2 days of submissions from counsel meaning that the hearing will end on 30 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] by 5pm on Wednesday 9 July. Detailed instructions were provided here:

drive.google.com/file/d/16-9POEZ7yHWUr6EmbfquJZO18Gv78bSm/view

The hearing is being live tweeted by x.com/tribunaltweets and there's additional information here: tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/peggie-vs-fife-health-board-and-dr-005. 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.ph/WSSjg.

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

Links to previous threads #1 to #29 can be found in the header of thread #30, found here: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5375337-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-30

I used to wonder what it must have been like watching the witch trials.

I reckon I know now!

Thank you. Sadly, that is the updated version, adding in the Fife Statement stuff, and has the "new improved" headline...

Because when women cry they're just making a fuss but if a man cries it must be really serious.

I've seen that one in action too

Did the judge actually say, as the BBC quote "Obviously matters of defamation are not within our jurisdiction."

if a judge's reaction to your press release is to mention defamation you'd be better withdrawing it than tinkering around the edges.

Every time we watch a tribunal I'm watching it thinking this is fucking insane. Nothing could ever be more nuts than this.

Sigh!

This one really is going to take some beating though.

Oo, also:

New Questions over NHS Fife Compliance
18 July 2025
On 18 July 2025, NHS Fife released a media statement that referenced the Commissioner's Decision 133/2025. In response, Scottish Information Commissioner, David Hamilton said,
“The petulant tone of NHS Fife’s latest statement is quite remarkable but it is the contents that concern me most. They have now cast doubt upon the assurances they gave me regarding compliance with my Decision Notice. I will investigate further and if the Authority has not indeed fully complied with my Decision then I may report the matter to the Court of Session as a contempt of court.”
ENDS

www.foi.scot/new-questions-over-nhs-fife-compliance

This will be because NC said that she might look for an Order because of the implications in paras 3&4 and JR said that reading was odd as 4 didn’t naturally flow from 3. So damage limitation and attempt to prevent an Order….?

also @BezMills your commentary has been superb! Thank you!

ETA - I’m referring to the added statement at the end of para 4 of the release! It didn’t quote!

Yes, there are plenty who are invested in gender ideology who believe exactly that. I've certainly had "anti-trans" flung at me for saying something similar. If it was meant to sting, it failed.

I think NHS Fifes servers are melting down cloudflare refused to believed I was human!

Thanks to those who tried to answer my question

Just pray no one lets Billy Bragg write any of the musical score.

Brecht and Weill would be a better choice.

Crikey!

That feels pretty damning - and a very rapid response too.

I was able to open it initially, but now (18:35 refreshing) can't get it to upload. My concern was over the use of locker room vs changing room. NHSFife use locker room twice in the statement. A locker room where you come in and drop a bag and go off is fine - doesn't need to be single sex. The changing room in question was very different - shower, toilet(s?), used for changing. More attempts to muddle the water. They are a disgrace and as for the attack on SexMatters - gfg.

Reflecting on the NHSF statement - if things were going fairly OK for them at the trib, if it was still nil-all at this stage, rights and wrongs and missteps on both sides, genuine effort by the hospital to sort things out equitably, equal levels of support given to DrU and SP, could go either way... that sort of thing, they might have got away with some sort of statement - not this one, obviously!

But it's nothing like that - the past few days have shown the hospital and NHSF to be utterly incompetent in how they handled the situation, lacking in structure or direction or clarity of function, devoid of any trace of fairness, with a network of 'initials' passing the buck between each other, the only overriding objective being to Make Everything All All Right for Beth.

So the tone of today's statement is so out of sync with what has just happened to them at the tribunal that it makes them look completely divorced from reality.

While NHSFife can't force Sandie to settle, they could stop calling witnesses and then the case would move swiftly to the forensic phone witness and the 2 days of submissions.

They chose to send the witnesses in this week to have a last go at smearing Sandie's name. One of the witnesses even told their own lawyer that what she was being asked to repeat was only hearsay.

NHSFife chose this week's court appearances, and the statement is well out of order.

I confess I haven't a clue who he is or what he's talking about [no need to explain, thanks, I don't think I need to know!] but I like the cut of his jib😄

Or to get Susan Dalgety and Lucy Hunter Blackburn to ghost write it.....

Sounds like there's at least one person in the ScotGov set-up who's actually doing their job! The Information Commissioner seems to be on the ball.

I agree. What's clear this week is how little the NHSF valued Sandie. An experienced, reliable, capable, homegrown nurse with an unblemished employment record. Instead of protecting her and ensuring her human rights and employment rights were upheld, they smeared her reputation. They belittled and gaslit her. They bullied her, threatened her with disciplinary charges. This dedicated nurse deserved to be heard but she was disregarded. The NHS employs more women than any other UK Employer. Women make up the majority of their workforce. When are we going to see a time of reflection and an acknowledgement from the NHS that they have failed to support their female employees?

oh dear this isn’t going to end well. of course lots of people saw the original statement.

off to have my second gin. Cheers NHS Fife you are doing your bit for community service around Britain and keeping us all amused, as well as providing HR trainers with lots of examples of what not to do. 🍸

Fuck me. I am not an expert but I believe that this sort of intervention by the Information Commissioner is highly unusual. Can anyone confirm?

I was thinking this too. But isn't the problem that they are also representing DU and he may want to press ahead? So therefore they have no choice?

I want to see Graham Linehan’s “NHS FIFE- The Musical”.

I really HAVE to do some housework.

Has anyone found a podcast about all this I could listen to?

I don’t understand what this means at all. Could someone explain please