Nurse Sandie Peggie cleared of gross misconduct in trans doctor changing room row
A nurse who complained about a transgender doctor using a female changing room was cleared of gross misconduct the day before her employment tribunal resumes, according to her solicitor.
Sandie Peggie was suspended from work at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on January 3 2024, after she complained about having to share a changing room with trans medic Dr Beth Upton.
After Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about 'patient care', Ms Peggie was suspended but was notified of safety allegations on March 28, 2024 in a letter, the tribunal heard earlier this year.
Ms Peggie has taken the health board and Dr Upton to tribunal, lodging a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 regarding three incidents when they shared a changing room: indirect harassment, victimisation and whistleblowing.
Employment tribunal hearings took place in Dundee in February and it was then adjourned until Wednesday.
Hours before it was due to restart, Ms Peggie's solicitor Margaret Gribbon said the nurse had been cleared of gross misconduct allegations following a separate health board disciplinary hearing.
The disciplinary hearing was held on June 25 and it considered four gross misconduct allegations: two relating to patient care failures, one of 'misgendering' Dr Upton, and one relating to her encounter with Dr Upton in the workplace female-only changing room on Christmas Eve 2023.
Ms Gribbon said: 'The evening before the resuming of her tribunal, Sandie Peggie received confirmation from Fife Health Board that following a disciplinary hearing, none of the gross misconduct allegations against her were upheld.
'Sandie is relieved and delighted that this 18-month long internal process has concluded and cleared her of all allegations.'
The tribunal resumes after the UK Supreme Court ruled in April that the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the 2010 Equality Act 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex', a ruling which has been publicly welcomed by Ms Peggie.
The hearing starts again on Wednesday in Dundee and is expected to last 11 days.
Last week, it emerged NHS Fife has spent more than £220,000 defending itself in the employment tribunal.
The extent of the costs was uncovered following an intervention by Scotland's information commissioner.
NHS Fife has been asked for comment.
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Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
It's time to overthrow the lanyardocracy
The trials of Sandie Peggie are a parable of where power lies in a country when lies are power. Peggie is a nurse from Fife, by all accounts a hard-working professional dedicated to her vocation and her patients. Things went awry, however, when she objected to undressing in a changing room in front of Dr Beth Upton, a male medic who identifies as a woman. If that sentence sounds absurd, that's because it is, but we are supposed to pretend otherwise – especially if we want to be considered good people. Dishonesty is the best policy. Following a complaint from Dr Upton, Peggie was suspended by NHS Fife in January 2024, and she took the health board and Dr Upton to an employment tribunal. NHS Fife petitioned for the tribunal to sit in private and Dr Upton asked that his identity be anonymised, but both requests were denied. Earlier this month, NHS bosses finally disclosed their legal bill so far – £220,465 – at the instruction of the Scottish information commissioner. On Wednesday, an internal NHS Fife inquiry cleared Peggie of misconduct, failures in patient care and misgendering Dr Upton – but the tribunal continues. Every time a health board witness gives evidence in the proceedings, it becomes less of a mystery why NHS Fife wanted the tribunal to sit in secret. It has revealed itself to be an inept organisation, led by a hapless hierarchy, implementing guidelines that are in a very distant relationship with equalities law. If the health board had simply shredded the Equality Act and glued the pieces back together at random, it would have made for a more coherent policy than the one put in place. This is what happens when you submit to an unfalsifiable ideology that is so patently false. A few basic questions would have saved NHS Fife, to say nothing of Sandie Peggie, all this grief, but genderism is an unforgiving religion and heresy is punished severely. When the employment tribunal concludes, the health board will have to confront some hard truths about how it got here, and so will the rest of Scotland. While NHS Fife deserves no sympathy after all it has put Peggie through, it is far from the only institution of the Scottish state to have been annexed by the gender identity movement. Gender ideology was able to spread so far, so deep and so fast thanks to the structural vulnerabilities in Scottish democracy. These include an ideologically narrow and intellectually shallow political class; a parliament ill-designed for scrutiny and chronically incapable of attracting parliamentarians equal to the task; an over-mighty executive wedded to secrecy, allergic to transparency, and contemptuous of accountability; and a civil society, including charities, academics and journalists, more aligned than is healthy with the political aims of the Scottish government. It is no surprise that this environment was so conducive to the democratic sub-contracting that sees government fund third-sector activists to lobby for policies endorsed by academic activists, drafted by civil service activists, to be implemented by public sector activists. An entire ecosystem of policymaking that never once comes into contact with public opinion. These activists represent what Lord Glasman calls 'the lanyard class', a concept developed by Janice Turner, and which broadly describes the dreary wokescolds who have marched through the institutions with 'be kind…' on their lips and '…or else' in their eyes. Ideological cliques are nothing new in politics. The Corbynistas set out to remake the Labour party just as the Blairites did before them, while the Notting Hill Set around David Cameron and George Osborne toiled to drag the Tories to the left just as the Thatcherites had done to take the party to the right. What differentiates the gender sect, and the progressive movement as a whole, is the mission: they aim not to reshape politics but to replace it. As the Sandie Peggie case demonstrates, but which can just as readily be seen in policymaking on immigration, race, national identity, heritage, and even foreign policy matters like Gaza, progressives share none of the Marxist's passion for debate or the liberal's tolerance for dissent. They are not in the business of changing minds or winning converts but of enforcing doctrine and burning heretics. This explains not only the secretive, hierarchical way in which gender policy is imposed but also the doctrinaire refusal to engage with nonbelievers. Thus are statements of biological fact met with rote recitations ('sex is not binary', 'trans women are women') while organisations signed up to gender ideology delay implementation of the Supreme Court's judgment in For Women Scotland or reject it outright. (Lord Hodge might have the law on his side but Emily from HR reckons he's on the wrong side of history.) You might have noticed that my metaphors keep lurching between political and religious. I can't help it. The last time pseudo-left ideology and retrograde superstition were this perfectly fused, the Shah of Iran was checking in his baggage at Mehrabad International Airport. While the Khomeinists replaced a secular monarchy with an Islamic theocracy, the lanyard class espouses democracy in theory, but in practice it oversees a lanyardocracy in which decisions are made by progressive elites without regard to popular opinion and in which institutions like parliaments and courts are legitimate only insofar as they affirm the beliefs and aims of the lanyarded establishment. Lanyardocracy draws legitimacy not from democratic mandates but from the secular scapulars that hang around the necks of its high priests. Elections might change governments but they don't change the civil service, public sector bureaucracies, quangos or other citadels of lanyardocracy. An elected government, no matter the size of its majority or strength of its mandate, can expect to be frustrated or even sabotaged if it is out of step with the lanyard regime. The institutional hostility with which For Women Scotland and interim guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission have been met is portentous and what it portends should give pause to those who blithely declare 'woke' to be over. 'Woke' is going nowhere until it is purged from the institutions it has captured or those institutions are dissolved and rebuilt. It is not enough for opponents of progressive ideology to win power and pursue a different policy direction. They must first win the fight to restore substantive democracy and that means dismantling the regime squatting on top of it. Sandie Peggie has been put through hell but something good might come of her ordeal if it accelerates regime change. It's time to overthrow the lanyardocracy.
South Wales Guardian
10 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hospital was advised trans doctor could use female facilities, tribunal told
Gillian Malone told an employment tribunal she perceived that allegations about nurse Sandie Peggie confronting transgender medic Dr Beth Upton were 'unacceptable'. Ms Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing room with Dr Upton at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife – where they both worked – on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave and then suspended after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against Fife health board and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination and victimisation. At the tribunal on Thursday, Ms Malone said it was her responsibility to 'speak up' on issues around female nurses sharing a changing room with a transgender doctor, and said the 'department took guidance' when refusing to meet a request made by Ms Peggie's solicitor. Service manager Lottie Myles sent an email to Ms Malone on March 7, 2024 following a meeting with Ms Peggie where she asked why Dr Upton could not be moved or asked to change elsewhere. Despite Ms Peggie asking through her solicitor that when she returned to work she 'could be assured of a single-sex space to change in', the board did not act, the tribunal heard. Ms Malone said: 'The department took guidance from the equality and human rights lead, and that wouldn't be what we would do. 'We took guidance that Beth could continue using the female changing facility.' Cross-examining, barrister Naomi Cunningham said: 'The result of refusing to give her that guarantee of no men in female changing room would be that Sandie couldn't return to work safe in the knowledge that when she got dressed in the women's changing room, there would be no men there.' Ms Malone said: 'We took advice and the guidance at the time was that Beth could use the female changing facility.' The tribunal heard that on March 8, Ms Malone sent an email to HR worker Melanie Jorgensen and others that a 'further risk assessment is supported for returning SP to the workplace'. Ms Cunningham said: 'It had already been established at end of December that there was no shift overlap between the claimant and Dr Upton in January so there was no need to keep them apart. That had already been established by January 3 when the suspension was put in place.' Ms Malone said: 'I can't recall.' Ms Cunningham said: 'What seems to have happened is that the risk assessment has been done after a decision to continue suspension.' She said confidentiality had been 'hopelessly lost' on December 29, 2023 when Dr Kate Searle sent an email to all consultants in the emergency department with Dr Upton's version of events, and again on January 12, 2024 when Dr Searle emailed about the incident – including Ms Peggie, Dr Upton and potential witnesses. Ms Malone said: 'I don't think she [Kate Searle] should have done that.' However on July 3, after press reports, Ms Peggie was given a reminder about confidentiality – which Ms Cunningham said was to 'silence her', and referred to emails exchanged on March 7 between Ms Malone and Ms Myles, which referred to 'misgendering' and the 'risk' of Ms Peggie 'using he/him which may cause unrest in the wider NHS team', the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham said: 'That tends to underline that the damage limitation is about preventing unrest in the workplace due to Sandie Peggie's use of correct sex pronouns for Dr Upton.' She said 'prohibiting the subject matter' was primarily about 'preventing her ability to organise with others who shared her concerns', and to 'prevent her expressing gender-critical belief'. Ms Malone said: 'I don't agree.' During re-examination by counsel for NHS Fife Jane Russell KC, Ms Malone was asked if she believed commenting on chromosomes was 'gender-critical belief'. She said: 'No I do not. I think it's an unwanted comment.' Ms Russell asked if based on her knowledge of the allegations on Christmas Eve, she believed Dr Upton had sexually harassed Ms Peggie. The witness said: 'No I don't believe Dr Upton sexually harassed Ms Peggie. I believe it was unacceptable behaviours, unprofessional behaviours which warranted investigation.' The tribunal continues.
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Telegraph
Nurse asked trans doctor using women's lavatories ‘what genes they had'
A nurse who confronted a transgender doctor using a female changing room behaved in an 'unacceptable way' because she asked 'what genes' the medic had, an employment tribunal has been told. Gillian Malone, the head of nursing of NHS Fife's medical directorate, said Sandie Peggie should have raised her concerns in a different way as 'it sounded like a really unpleasant conversation'. Pressed on what was unacceptable about Ms Peggie's conduct, she said the nurse should not have asked Dr Beth Upton 'what genes did she have.' Ms Malone argued that the nurse commenting on the chromosomes of Dr Upton, who was born male but identifies as female, constituted 'harassment'. She also criticised an alleged reference made by Ms Peggie to Isla Bryson, a transgender rapist, during the confrontation on Dec 23, 2023, at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. Ms Malone admitted she could not recall seeing a risk assessment that led to the suspension of Ms Peggie. She was also forced to deny there was a concerted effort to prevent Ms Peggie joining forces with colleagues who shared her opposition to Dr Upton using the female changing room. The tribunal heard that Ms Peggie was warned to keep an internal investigation into the matter to herself after NHS Fife was contacted by the media. However, Dr Kate Searle, who is Dr Upton's line manager, had emailed more than 20 consultants on Dec 29 2023, setting out the trans medic's version of events. Naomi Cunningham, Ms Peggie's lawyer, said this meant that the 'integrity and confidentiality' of the investigation had already been 'hopelessly lost' and Ms Malone agreed it should not have been handled in that way. The row centres on an encounter between Ms Peggie and Dr Upton on Dec 24, 2023. The nurse experienced a sudden and heavy period and feared that it had bled through to her scrubs. The nurse entered the female hospital changing room to find Dr Upton and challenged the medic's presence. Within hours, a bullying complaint was lodged by Dr Upton. In May last year Ms Peggie submitted a formal claim to an employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Upton for sexual harassment, belief discrimination and victimisation. The nurse complained of being required to share a single-sex space with someone she believed to be male and being victimised for holding a gender-critical belief that biological sex is immutable. Dr Upton gave evidence during the first part of the tribunal, in February, and claimed to be 'biologically female'. However, it was not possible for the doctor to have held a gender recognition certificate in Dec 2023, meaning the medic was legally male. It emerged on Wednesday this week, only hours before the tribunal resumed, that Ms Peggie had been cleared of gross misconduct by an NHS Fife disciplinary hearing. However, the health board has so far ignored calls to stop contesting the tribunal, which is scheduled to continue for a further nine days. Referring to the changing room incident, Ms Malone told Ms Cunningham that it was 'unacceptable for any colleague to confront another in that manner'. She said that the nurse 'could have raised the matter but not as a confrontation' and suggested that she should instead have spoken to her line manager. 'A terrible incident' Pressed what was unacceptable about Mr Peggie's conduct, Ms Malone said: 'Asking Dr Upton what genes did she have, how they came to be in the changing room at the same time together. 'It sounded like a really unpleasant conversation...a terrible incident.' Ms Malone, told the tribunal she received a report on the internal NHS Datix system on January 3, 2024 about the changing room incident. She said: 'At this time they were allegations, I did believe there was behaviour in there which could constitute bullying and harassment which were of concern and could require investigation.' But Ms Cunningham suggested the reason Ms Peggie was suspended was 'because she had told Dr Upton she wasn't happy about him using the women's changing room'. Ms Malone said: 'The justification for suspension was based on a risk assessment which wasn't undertaken by me.' However, Ms Cunningham added: 'I'm suggesting that by challenging Dr Upton's presence in the changing room she was complaining he was harassing her; it was her rejection of that harassment which gave rise also to the disciplinary and suspension, it was her refusal to tolerate what he was doing.' Challenged directly by the barrister, Ms Malone said: 'I don't believe Dr Upton sexually harassed Ms Peggie. I believe it was unacceptable behaviours, unprofessional behaviours which warranted investigation.' NHS guidance at the time said that trans men and women were allowed to use the changing rooms that aligned with their gender identity. But the guidance is being reviewed after the Supreme Court ruled in a separate landmark case in April that access to female-only areas should be based on biological sex. The tribunal continues.
