NHS Fife tries to silence nurse - Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton - thread #54

[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 was 29 July 2025. It resumed again over 1 to 2 September for closing submissions.

The hearing commenced with Sandie Peggie giving evidence. Dr Beth Upton gave evidence from Thursday 6 February to Wednesday 12 February 2025. Sandie Peggie returned to give more evidence on 29 July 2025.

Access to view the second part of the hearing remotely was obtainable by sending an email request to: [email protected].

The hearing was 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 #50 can be found in this thread: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379717-sandie-peggie-list-of-threads-covering-employment-tribunal-and-afterwards

Thread 51: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5402652-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-51 1 September 2025 to 2 September 2025
Thread 52: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5403218-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-52 2 September 2025 to 4 September 2025
Thread 53: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5404208-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-53 from 3 September

I'm still surprised she got the job given she didn't meet the required criteria set out in the advert. Actually, wait, no. I'm not surprised, I'm disgusted.

Not a chance she'll be let go - the unions are captured by this nonsense and they'll defend her to the hilt. If it's any consolation, she made a reference to 'interesting times in Fife' and there was a stony silence.

Now in the Times - Carol Potter to take early retirement: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/nhs-boss-sandie-peggie-suspension-step-down-cv7hr6x5x

Archive version: https://archive.ph/ksyjM

How will judgement be announced? Press release or do they reconvene?

Press release i think. And IIRC, judgement was to be issued to parties a week in advance. So, any day now I expect

If the parties get it a week before it goes public does the fact that the CEO is suddenly stepping down make anyone else think that it maybe wasn’t a joyous result for Fife.

Surely whatever the outcome, it won't be joyous for NHS Fife. Neither should it be.

IB and other NHSFife staff who appeared at the ET are most likely completely confused by the public reaction to the tribunal. I don’t believe for a second that they have reflected on their actions other than to confirm their own biases.

Well done in getting through the meeting. I don’t have a poker face so my feelings would have been on display for all to see.

Well it shouldn't be cause for celebration, but if you win a case and feel you've been vindicated, you're gonna feel happy about that

But CEO resigning? That's got to be significant, surely

If Sandie wins I suspect it will be a pyrrhic victory for her. However, she will have made a major contribution to women's rights and dignity.

Carol will almost certainly appear as a non executive director somewhere - and possibly as a lay member of employment tribunals. She should have been sacked but the easiest way to get her out is to let her retire.

Why will it be pyrrhic?

She's been publicly vilified as a racist and a bigot (unfairly IMHO) she will face the hate of former colleagues, she may have to work with them again. It's tough on anyone.

I think most of her colleagues will think she is incredibly brave. Hopefully she will get a big enough settlement that she can choose what she does next.

She thought that she had a lovely group of friends that she went on holiday with. But one of them decided to trawl through years worth of messages to try and find something to hang her with. That is a pretty awful realisation.

Yes but surely everyone can see what a bitch the so called friend was. The other woman had never even met Beth. I bet she wouldn't be so smug at midnight alone in a changing room with him

Nothing like it would be if she loses.

It will be published on Employment Tribunals website. The copies will have been provided under strict embargo and the teams for each side will share their story with press to coincide with publication.

Towards the end of the questioning Sandie named some of the other nurses who were unhappy with a man in the changing room -names and surnames. The ones who felt like Sandie but didn't bring it up with management or confront Upton or give a witness statement supporting Sandie - for whatever reasons.

The atmosphere in that department following that must have been horrendous. Upton knowing exactly who objects to his presence in the changing room. And the nurses knowing that a vindictive, well-connected doctor who has lied in court and made up career-ending allegations has got his eye on them. And that consultants and senior staff ate ready to collude with him to bring down any dissenting nurse. Grim.

I don't think Sandie will be able to work in that department again. I hope she gets a good enough settlement never to have to work again.

If Upton loses will there automatically be a referral made to the GMC about him? I know many of us contacted them after he gave evidence and they said they couldn't do anything while it was ongoing, or something to that effect.
Is there a duty on his employers to report him if the tribunal finds against him?

Spoke to someone today who used to work with Carol Potter. Confirmed she's mid fifties and very much not the early retirement type. Had her eye on one of the top jobs in NHS Scotland.

It seems to me that the bar to appeal a tribunal is quite high - is it more or less demanding than to appeal a criminal outcome or a sentence, or are they not really comparable?

I don't think it's fair to say the bar to appeal a tribunal is high: it's high in some places (perversity) and low in others (the tribunal got the law wrong). Much deference is given to the panel when deciding matters of fact - such as which witness was telling the truth and which were lying through their teeth. No deference at all is given to the panel's interpretation of the law.

The moment the judgement is handed down i will be resubmiting my complaint about him to the GMC as they refused it last time as it was an ongoing case so yes I'm sure many of us will but no nhs fife and/or the tribunal won't

Thank you