Equalities boss in trans doctor row 'Googled' policies of other health boards, tribunal told

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

An NHS equalities boss Googled the trans policies of other health boards as they did not have their own, a tribunal was told yesterday.
Nurse Sandie Peggie was suspended from Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy after she complained about having to share a changing room with trans medic Dr Beth Upton.
The 51-year-old nurse has since sued the health board and medic, and the landmark employment tribunal she brought against them returned yesterday.
Isla Bumba, NHS Fife's equality and human rights lead officer, told the tribunal she had researched the policies of other health boards as there was no policy in place regarding trans employees in 2023.
And she revealed she had been using a search engine to investigate the trans patient policies of other health boards after being tasked with writing one.
As the tribunal returned for what is expected to be another eleven days, she said she would 'hazard a guess at being female' but that she has not had a chromosome test.
And the NHS employee defended having the phrase 'LGBT ally' on her email signature, telling the tribunal it 'matter of fact' about herself but did not mean she was not an ally to women.
Yesterday the tribunal was told in August 2023 Esther Davidson, who worked in the emergency department, had sought advice on transgender policies.
Ms Bumba said she had been asked for 'very generic and informal advice' because they had a 'transgender staff member who was due to join the workforce' so was seeking advice on how to accommodate them, particularly around changing rooms.
She told Jane Russell, KC, for NHS Fife: 'I said it could be deemed discriminatory to not allow a trans person access to facilities that aligned with their gender, but I recommended that it might be worthwhile having a conversation with the person directly if they had been open about their trans status to see where they would be most comfortable.'
The inquiry was told Ms Bumba looked at policies from other health boards, with NHS Highland's policy saying that 'staff must be treated in accordance with their self-declared gender regardless of whether under medical supervision or have a gender recognition certificate'.
As well as not having a policy for staff, they did not have a policy for patients.
And Ms Bumba said: 'I had been tasked with writing a trans policy for patients, because we also did not have one at that time, and so part of my scoping I was contacting or leaning on the other equality leads.
'Having discussions with them, trying to get copies if I could, or be referenced to their existing policies if they had one and doing my own research on what other policies were - so I would have been Googling them, I could have came across English policies online, but I reached out directly to some of my Scottish colleagues for their policies.'
Ms Bumba has been at the health board for just over three years, and she told the tribunal her job was to make sure NHS Fife was adhering to the Equality Act among other duties.
The witness disputed the definition of biological sex when questioned by Mrs Peggie's lawyer Naomi Cunningham.
She told the barrister: 'I think you've simplified what could be deemed biological sex, but in actual fact it's far more complex.
'I don't know anything about Beth's body, I didn't at the time I don't now, I don't need to know. But it wouldn't be something that I would ever have the information of exactly what she is made of biologically.
'Nor do I know what my own body is made of biologically.
'I hazard a guess that I would be female, but no one knows what their chromosomes are or their hormonal composition unless you've had that test and I at least have not and I'm not sure Beth has.'
On her email signature she was listed as an 'LGBT ally', the tribunal heard, and Ms Cunningham challenged her on it.
The lawyer, who highlighted other things she does not list including being a 'disability ally', said: 'Doesn't singling out LGBT ally on your email signature give the impression that the board's human rights and equality lead thinks that the protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment are the most important ones and they come first?'
But Ms Bumba, who studied at Aberdeen University, said: 'I don't think having that on my email signature suggests that its my top priority no. A priority, but not necessarily the top priority.
'Being an LGBT ally does not mean that I'm not an ally to other protected characteristics.'
Following her involvement in the incident in early January 2024, Ms Bumba said she did not have any more involvement until July.
The inquiry heard of a Daily Mail article which told of the incident involving Mrs Peggie and Dr Upton, 30.
Ms Bumba, who said she was not aware of the identity of the nurse and doctor concerned at this point, said she told a follow up meeting: 'I did remind the group that the nurse involved was entitled to her personal beliefs and that gender critical beliefs were protected under the Equality Act specifically, however, that being said, the NHS expects its employees to conduct themselves in a certain way that aligns with our values and ethics.'
The tribunal continues.