Trans doctor allowed in women's changing room without legal assessment, admit health chiefs

Telegraph

6 hours ago

An NHS board has admitted breaking equality rules by allowing a transgender doctor into a women's hospital changing room without assessing the consequences.
NHS Fife has confirmed it carried out no impact assessment regarding the provision of single-sex changing facilities for staff, the UK's equalities watchdog has disclosed.
Dr Beth Upton, who was born male, was allowed to use women's changing facilities at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, and Sandie Peggie, an A&E nurse, was suspended after challenging the doctor's presence.
Baroness Falkner, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), has now said an impact assessment was a requirement to meet the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
Assessment due by late September
In an unprecedented intervention, she said the EHRC had ordered the board to produce an assessment, and anticipates it will be published by Sept 30.
She said the watchdog had also made clear that NHS Fife must comply with April's Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not women for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
The intervention comes as Ms Peggie's employment tribunal against the health board and Dr Upton continues.
The case hinges on an incident on Dec 24 2023, when Ms Peggie entered the women's changing room and found Dr Upton there, prompting her to challenge the doctors' presence.
Within hours, Dr Upton lodged a bullying complaint, and Ms Peggie was suspended.
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.
She has recently been cleared of gross misconduct by an NHS Fife disciplinary hearing.
After the first part of the tribunal in February, the EHRC wrote to NHS Fife 'reminding' the board of its obligations about the provision of single-sex spaces.
Lady Falkner said: 'Earlier this year, we asked NHS Fife to provide us with information on the provision of single-sex changing facilities for staff and the rights of different groups in the application of these policies. At that point, NHS Fife confirmed no equality impact assessment was available.
'Undertaking an equality impact assessment of relevant policies or practices, and publishing the results, are requirements of the PSED specific duties in Scotland. We believe NHS Fife failed to meet these requirements and told them to carry one out immediately.'
SNP ministers reminded of oversight responsibility
She added that the board had commissioned one and provided assurances that it was reviewing the impact of the Supreme Court ruling on its 'policies and procedures.'
Lady Falkner also said discussions were continuing with the Scottish Government 'on ministerial oversight of the provision of staff single-sex facilities across NHS Scotland'.
During a meeting with Neil Gray, the Scottish Health Secretary, in June, she said the watchdog 'emphasised that while health boards are responsible for their own compliance with the Equality Act, Scottish ministers have a responsibility to ensure their adherence with the Public Sector Equality Duty'.
Maya Forstater, the chief executive of Sex Matters, which is supporting Ms Peggie's legal action, said: 'This directive to NHS Fife is an unprecedented intervention from the EHRC and the kind of muscle that has been lacking from regulators across the board since gender ideology first took hold of public institutions.
'While long overdue, this is a clear instruction to NHS Fife – and in fact all employers – that it cannot get away with continuing to flout the Equality Act.'
Health board's admission is 'shameful'
Tess White, the Scottish Tories' shadow equalities minister, said: 'This damning directive from the EHRC confirms that, on top of being negligent, incompetent and biased, NHS Fife broke the law in relation to the Sandie Peggie case.
'The shameful admission from the health board confirms that Sandie Peggie was hung out to dry from the very beginning of this tawdry scandal simply for standing up for her rights as a woman.'
Susan Smith, a director of For Women Scotland, the feminist group that won the Supreme Court case, said: 'We are thankful the EHRC has intervened with NHS Fife, although it is shocking it had to come to this.
'Moreover, four months after the Supreme Court ruling, the board should update policies to reflect the law, not merely review them.'
A spokeswoman for the Murray Blackburn Mackenzie policy analysis group said: 'This directive is a much needed wake-up call to all organisations that continue flout the law.'
A Scottish Government spokesman said it had made clear it accepts the Supreme Court ruling and since April has been 'taking forward the detailed work that is necessary as a consequence of the ruling'. They added: 'That work is ongoing.'