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Original poster

Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton, following Employment Tribunal judgment - thread #61

882 replies

nauticant · 08/01/2026 19:40

Judgment was handed down on 8 December 2025:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6936ce28a6fc97b81e57436a/S_Peggie_v_Fife_Health_Board__Dr_Upton.pdf

Sandie Peggie, a nurse at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy (VH), 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.

Following handing down of the judgment on 8 December 2025, on 11 December 2025, it was announced by Sandie Peggie and her legal team that they would be pursuing an appeal.

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.

Links to previous threads #1 to #60 can be found in this thread: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379717-sandie-peggie-list-of-threads-covering-employment-tribunal-and-afterwards

Thread 60: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5461133-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-following-employment-tribunal-judgment-thread-60 16 December 2025 to 8 January 2026

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42
borntobequiet · 09/01/2026 23:04

This reply has been withdrawn

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Seymour5 · 10/01/2026 07:45

Signed.

fromorbit · 10/01/2026 08:36

PersonIrresponsible · 09/01/2026 18:11

I was 26000 and something

Now at 37,054 signatures.
After 2 days it is no 20 out of all the Open petitions (1,812). That is very quick.
Going to make it to 100,000 which will have political impact.

Doing experiments on kids strangely unpopular.

ProtectedlyInsufferable · 10/01/2026 12:04

Over 42000 now

Coffeeandcataddict · 10/01/2026 15:38

Signed.
Not many signatures where I am but it’s a low population here anyway.

Easytoconfuse · 10/01/2026 15:51

lcakethereforeIam · 09/01/2026 19:01

I was just looking at the Government petition site. They have responded to the petition asking for an enquiry into sexual violence in NHS hospitals. I'm not sure if MN will allow the link so here's the response

"Government responded
This response was given on 23 October 2025
Sexual misconduct in NHS settings is unacceptable. We are working with system partners to eradicate sexual misconduct in the NHS. The Government has no plans to launch an inquiry at this time.
Read the response in full
We are ensuring health care leaders in the NHS take robust, compassionate action to address and reduce all forms of sexual misconduct and harassment within their organisations and to ensure a safe environment for staff and patients.
It is entirely unacceptable for anyone to experience any form of sexual misconduct, including violence and harassment, within NHS settings.
Since 2023, the NHS Sexual Safety Charter – which promotes a zero tolerance approach towards sexual misconduct in the NHS – has been adopted by every Integrated Care Board (ICB) and NHS Trust in England. The Charter asks all ICBs and Trusts (all of which have an executive-level lead for domestic abuse and sexual violence) to adopt particular standards in the identification and investigation of staff sexual misconduct cases.
To support delivery of the Charter, NHS England has developed a national NHS people policy framework on sexual misconduct, e-learning for all staff on sexual misconduct, a communications toolkit, and an assurance framework for Charter implementation.
These resources provide information about how to recognise, report and act on sexual misconduct; an approach to taking action when a report is made; and the support available to people involved or harmed. The sexual misconduct policy framework, for Trusts and ICBs to adopt and adapt, sets out how reports should be handled. NHS England is measuring the uptake of the framework across all Trusts and ICBs, including gathering key feedback about its impact and effectiveness so far. Feedback will be used to identify areas where organisations need support with implementation to achieve an accountable sexual safety culture.
NHS England has recently written to providers and asked them to take further steps to identify potential perpetrators of sexual misconduct and to redouble efforts to protect staff and patients.
The Professional Standards Authority has produced guidance on sexual boundaries to support professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), in meeting their statutory duty to investigate concerns raised about healthcare professionals. For example, the GMC has published new resources including new GMC resources to support victims and survivors of sexual misconduct by doctors. The Government has also confirmed its commitment to prioritising the reform of healthcare professional regulation in the UK. This includes modernising the regulatory framework for doctors and, as part of that, removing the GMC’s five-year rule which restricts the GMC from investigating some historic concerns such as allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan sets out standards for the NHS workforce and will be produced in conjunction with the Social Partnership Forum. These include reducing the levels of violence and sexual harassment against staff.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) addresses sexual safety within its Assessment Framework, assessing if providers have cultures and processes to protect people from sexual harm. CQC uses analysis of the NHS Staff Survey questions relating to sexual safety, incidents data and complaints data, among other evidence, to make informed decisions. Where CQC finds that NHS services do not prevent sexual misconduct, it can act using regulatory powers, or by referring the service to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The NHS Staff Survey now includes two new questions on unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature. These help trusts understand the prevalence of sexual misconduct in their workplace and informs further action to protect and support staff across the NHS.
The Equality Act 2010 gives legal protections against sexual harassment at work. Yet, reports in recent years show that it remains a problem. To address this, a new duty on employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees came into force on 26 October 2024. The Government will strengthen this duty through the Employment Rights Bill, clarifying that employers must take ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of their employees and for employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties. The Bill includes a measure that will expressly make sexual harassment the basis for a protected disclosure. This will provide clarity for workers and have benefits, including encouraging workers to speak up about sexual harassment by using whistleblowing routes.
Sexual Assault Referral Centres offer medical, practical and emotional support to anyone who has been raped, sexually assaulted or abused, and are available to all victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse, whether recent or non-recent.
NHS England, ICBs, providers, professional regulators and the wider system represent an urgent and collective effort to enact positive change and eradicate the abhorrent behaviours described in various independent reports about sexual misconduct in the NHS.

Department of Health and Social Care"

It's got just under 20,000 signatures. I don't think it will get 100,000 by the time it closes on 6th March.

The question is, is a man in a woman's changing area a sign of sexual harrassment or is a woman objecting to a man in a woman's changing area a TERF and a bigot? How attitudes change...

MarjorieWestriding · 10/01/2026 16:19

Currently at 45,890 so going up fast.

SionnachRuadh · 10/01/2026 16:40

ProfessorBinturong · 09/01/2026 22:11

Intriguing hotspot in Upper Bann as well (DUP, Carla Lockhart).

Last time I saw Carla she was agitated about the family farm tax. She can be pretty effective when she gets onto an issue. Anyone who has a chance to speak to her, please do.

Zebracat · 10/01/2026 23:11

Signed 50851

DameProfessorIDareSay · 12/01/2026 09:54

"In October 2022, as a new member of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and concerned at their contents, I requested that the organisation’s previous submissions to parliament on the GRR Bill be reviewed. I was outvoted and a decision was made to postpone publication of minutes reflecting this until after the GRR was enacted. Before debate closed on the bill, I wrote to Holyrood’s Equalities Committee to alert them. No member answered. The response my intervention did secure was to have complaints made against me by staff and fellow commissioners."

www.holyrood.com/comment/view,peggie-v-nhs-fife-more-casualties-to-come

MarieDeGournay · 12/01/2026 10:57

DameProfessorIDareSay · 12/01/2026 09:54

"In October 2022, as a new member of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and concerned at their contents, I requested that the organisation’s previous submissions to parliament on the GRR Bill be reviewed. I was outvoted and a decision was made to postpone publication of minutes reflecting this until after the GRR was enacted. Before debate closed on the bill, I wrote to Holyrood’s Equalities Committee to alert them. No member answered. The response my intervention did secure was to have complaints made against me by staff and fellow commissioners."

www.holyrood.com/comment/view,peggie-v-nhs-fife-more-casualties-to-come

What a great piece of writing, incandescent but articulate, an impressive combination:

Deflection, muzzling, smearing opponents, policing language to stifle debate and the quiet binning of inconvenient legal truths: this tactical array, seen first on GRR, has been replicated in Scotland over and over as the gender juggernaut has crashed through policies on prisons, police data, intimate searches, rape crisis services, and workplace changing facilities, leaving a trail of bureaucratic disarray and public trust in government in tatters. Still graver issues arise in relation to oversight of the delivery of ‘trans’ healthcare.

There should be no consolation whatsoever found in the fact that, besides Scotland, these issues have manifested elsewhere. We live only once. The lives of many have been damaged, indelibly, because organisations entrusted by the public to uphold their rights and keep them safe abandoned their mandates.

I think I have seen the Univ of Dundee being dissed on previous threads for being 'captured' - I see Dr Claire Methven O'Brien is a Dundee graduate, so it either isn't all that bad, or she is even more to be admired for her independence!

I also see that she has a Substack, which, given the above example of her writing is probably brilliantSmile
Claire’s Substack | Claire Methven O'Brien | Substack

moto748e · 12/01/2026 12:16

Well said indeed.

NebulousSupportPostcard · 12/01/2026 20:50

Thanks for the link!

42 days after 8 December is next Monday 19th, so if the appeal has not yet been completed it will be a busy week for Sandie's team!

MarieDeGournay · 12/01/2026 21:17

Igneococcus · 12/01/2026 18:50

I'm not sure this has been shared yet, it's from last week, I only just stumbled across it in the Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/eea17b93-486a-4d1c-a4cd-306debf0f729?shareToken=f2e91173082f6a5aa7e7c27dca87588b

Great!
It's almost as if she knew we'd read itSmile

Cismyfatarse · 14/01/2026 17:50

Any appeal update???

Totallygripped · 14/01/2026 18:35

Just looking at the Reddit things. Apparently there is a new surgeon in town (Brighton). No less a fellow of the Royal college. I had no idea that I had a prostate. Is there anything to be gained in calling this nonsense out?

Original poster
nauticant · 14/01/2026 19:00

Cismyfatarse · 14/01/2026 17:50

Any appeal update???

The deadline for filing the appeal at the EAT is 19 January assuming that the formal corrections didn't meddle with that and there's no request for, and granting of, an extension of time. Such an extension would be unusual but then we're not looking at a usual case.

There is the possibility for members of the public to get hold of the Notice of Appeal although it isn't clear if that would include the Grounds of Appeal, the interesting part that should be very interesting and pretty substantial.

There have been reports that the appeal has already been filed but I don't believe it. In such a fast-changing situation best practice would be to file close to the deadline to make sure that the Grounds of Appeal are up to date with all the developments.

OP posts:
MustBeThursday · 14/01/2026 20:00

nauticant · 14/01/2026 19:00

The deadline for filing the appeal at the EAT is 19 January assuming that the formal corrections didn't meddle with that and there's no request for, and granting of, an extension of time. Such an extension would be unusual but then we're not looking at a usual case.

There is the possibility for members of the public to get hold of the Notice of Appeal although it isn't clear if that would include the Grounds of Appeal, the interesting part that should be very interesting and pretty substantial.

There have been reports that the appeal has already been filed but I don't believe it. In such a fast-changing situation best practice would be to file close to the deadline to make sure that the Grounds of Appeal are up to date with all the developments.

Show quote history

It does say in the Times article with the solicitor that “Peggie has lodged an appeal” so maybe already done?

Original poster
nauticant · 14/01/2026 20:18

That would strike me as odd but maybe there's a tactical reason to file days or weeks ahead of the deadline.

One possibility is that the rules might permit filing of the Notice of Appeal and that can be followed up with a filing of the Grounds of Appeal (but still by the deadline). But I don't know the rules well enough to know what's permitted.

OP posts:
MarieDeGournay · 14/01/2026 23:14

I see Judge Kemp isn't the only one getting into trouble thanks to AI - the West Midlands Chief Constable's AI hallucinated a football match that never happened, which he then relied on for decision-making🙄

That's two AI-based 'Fine Messes You've Got Us Into' in a short space of time.