Trans doctor in nurse row lamented lack of guidelines on changing rooms

Times

2 days ago

The transgender doctor at the centre of a landmark tribunal over women-only spaces lamented the lack of clear guidelines about access to female changing rooms, documents have shown.
Dr Beth Upton said NHS Fife potentially missed an opportunity to intervene before the incident involving the doctor and the nurse Sandie Peggie in a female changing room at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023.
Peggie has taken the health board and Upton to an employment tribunal claiming she faced discrimination and harassment as a result of being forced to share female changing rooms with the doctor, who is biologically male but identifies as female.
Peggie confronted Upton in the women's changing rooms at the hospital's A&E department, telling Upton she believed the doctor had no right to be there.
Upton lodged a formal complaint with the board, claiming to have been subjected to a transphobic 'hate incident', which led to Peggie being suspended for several months. Peggie is now suing the health board and Dr Upton for alleged sexual harassment, belief discrimination, and victimisation under the Equality Act 2010.
A previously unpublished document among hundreds included in an evidence bundle for the tribunal reveals Upton raised the absence of a clear transgender policy at the internal Fife Health and Social Care Partnership disciplinary hearing into Peggie's conduct.
• Janice Turner: Class snobbery is at heart of NHS gender war
The HR representative Melanie Jorgensen asked Upton at the conduct hearing in June if there had been a missed opportunity for intervention by NHS Fife before the changing-room incident.
The notes of the meeting state Upton said this was 'difficult to answer' and adds the doctor 'feels potentially there was a missed opportunity'.
Upton told the hearing it was 'clear the organisation do not have a policy'.
The notes continue: 'Beth Upton advised that she understands the legal side of things, but also feels a lot of this would have been easier if there had been a policy document that would have confirmed what to do in this situation.'
Upton's comments come after the pivotal Supreme Court judgment in April that ruled women are defined by biological sex under equalities law.
Trina Budge, director of For Women Scotland who brought the legal challenge to the Supreme Court, said: 'There absolutely should be a policy and it's unacceptable that they continue without one.
'This should have been dealt with as a priority after the Supreme Court judgment.
'The policy should have made it clear that men such as Dr Upton are not allowed in female changing rooms.
'It's just creating more disasters and more tribunals for the NHS — not just NHS Fife but throughout Scotland.'
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns for the human-rights charity Sex Matters, which advocates for clarity about biological sex in law and life, said: 'This shows the risks of changing policy on the fly in response to one trans-identifying person's request.
• Sandie Peggie blames her upbringing for use of racial slurs
'A sign on a door saying 'Male' or 'Female' is already a statement of policy — that the space is for one sex only, in compliance with workplace regulations.
'That is what most people will understand the sign to mean. Employers are not free to choose a different meaning of 'single-sex', or a different interpretation of laws and statutory regulations. Every employer needs to follow the law as it stands.'
A spokeswoman for NHS Fife previously said: 'Throughout the course of the employment tribunal, NHS Fife has been clear that it will not comment on individuals or evidence while legal proceedings are ongoing.
'We remain respectful of the legal process and the role of the tribunal in considering all evidence presented.'
A Scottish government spokesman said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment further while judicial proceedings in an employment tribunal are ongoing.'