NHS Fife tries to silence nurse - Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton - thread #46

[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 had been intended to be 28 July with 2 days of submissions from counsel meaning that the hearing was to have ended on 30 July. However, it became apparent as the hearing progressed that this schedule wouldn't be followed. (Considerable understatement.)

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 and tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/peggie-vs-fife-health-board-and-dr-bd6. 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 #40 can be found in this thread: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379717-sandie-peggie-list-of-threads-covering-employment-tribunal-and-afterwards

Thread 41: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379334-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-41 24 July 2025 to 25 July 2025
Thread 42: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379820-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-42 25 July 2025 to 25 July 2025
Thread 43: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379979-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-43 25 July 2025 to 27 July 2025
Thread 44: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5380196-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-44 25 July 2025 to 28 July 2025
Thread 45: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5381518-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-45 28 July 2025 to 28 July 2025

Just repeating this because we can't say it enough times

NC development over night needs to speak to judge and panel. Judge has left the room

The inside knowledge on how the post was treated supports the likelihood that this was genuine.

Blimey, the ET case that keeps on giving, More developments overnight. NC off for a private conflab with her team.

What a petty woman JR is, mispronouncing names. She would fit right in at NHS Fife. Embarrassing behaviour.

we ended the convo
JR Has been media hysteria re this case and this caller cld have had different motives
Yes
J No Qs
NC Do u have any knowledge of unions and GC beliefs and M in Ws spaces? EM Yes, we get a lot of calls from W who dont get any support from their unions
looking for support.
J You can leave now Ms Moore. What is next NC?
NC it wont surprise u to know there's been developments overnight so I'd like a case mgmt mtg please?
J Just me or the whole tribunal?
NC The whole tribunal is fine
J Let's have a 5 min break

I wonder whether this witness is setting a scene for NC's examination of either SP or the other nurse this afternoon rather than adding anything at this point.

Developments overnight you say? 👀

JR got absolutely bugger all from that witness. Must be weird cross questioning a grownup.

But all outgoing post also goes through the post room so could have been put aside with the mountains of incoming post..

In the context of an ongoing tribunal case, the defendant vetting the claimant's mail without their consent or knowledge is not even vaguely reasonable, whatever the claimed motivation.

They would surely be required to have a formal procedure for vetting post. Diverting it could give rise to criminal investigations?

I can only think of Mridul Wadhwa.

Just threw his hands up, dashed his wig to the floor (he's wearing a wig...a judges wig tbc), screamed 'I've had enough!' and jumped out the window? 😃

Not sure what the point was of bringing on the woman from SM though. What has all that stuff about the post actually added to the case? She said they were doing it for SP and BU so treating both the same? Or have I misunderstood?

Haggis Pizza is also a thing. You used to be able to get it in Costco, of all places.

There may be something coming in SC's recall evidence about whether the diverted post has been provided to her or not, perhaps?

LN openly challenged SP on the trans issue in the group chat.

So one has to assume the reason LN DIDN’T challenge SP about the racist jokes is because either:

• she viewed them as simply bad-taste jokes which were not representative of SP’s true feelings towards ethnic minority groups

OR

• LN agreed with SP’s jokes. Hence the 😂 response

Surely NHS Fife is running out of clueless, mendacious, self-righteous, unprofessional dim-wits to field as witnesses by now?

I wonder if there's going to be something from SP about what post was allowed through - e.g., if NHS Fife sent all the unpleasant stuff to her, despite supposedly having a vetting process for it, that might contribute to the evidence that they were treating her badly. Just a thought.

Interesting that NC managed to shoehorn in in her re-examination the point about Sex Matters getting number of calls from all over the shop about GC people not being supported by their unions.

Oh gosh, MORE new developments?!

The tribunal is now taking a five minute break. Employment Judge Sandy Kemp had expected the tribunal to move on to questioning Sandra Ross, a nurse who is part of what the tribunal is referring to as “the Benidorm group”.
However, Ms Peggie’s lawyer Naomi Cunningham said: “There have been developments overnight and as a result of those I would like to ask for a short private case management hearing.”
Ms Cunningham agrees this meeting should involve the whole tribunal rather than just the judge.

No, I didn’t; I’m coming at the question from NHSFife and its employees hypothetical attitude towards a black male trans identifying doctor, then wondered about the likelihood of such a person being employed in Fife. It’s unlikely Monroe Bergdorf would be that person. I’m examining my own racial bias of assuming that every Tran-identifying doctor in Scotland is white, and whether that’s fair or not. The only racial character in this saga so far is Rihanna (sp?) the healthcare assistant, whose role is a)limited and b)relevant only because of her racial characteristic, so that’s a trope right there.

Haggis macaroni cheese is also good. Some crumbled in the sauce, and some as a crumb topping. We like haggis in this house!

Ah I'm with you. It was the vetting that sounded dodgy rather than the opening anyway. But if they were doing it for both I wasn't sure if they'd be able to argue unfair treatment to SP over this.

This is my coaster! 😀