The Sandie Peggie scandal insults the British public

Telegraph

2 days ago

NHS Fife has the wild-eyed optimism of a gambler chasing their losses. Barely a day after admitting nurse Sandie Peggie had done nothing wrong, the trust's lawyers were back in court, still hell-bent on defending the indefensible.
At any point since the case began, they could have folded – settled the matter with dignity and spared the public purse the £220,000 that's already sunk. But what NHS Fife lacks in judgement, it makes up for in dogged, taxpayer-funded bloody-mindedness.
The tribunal, now back underway in Dundee after a five-month pause, centres on a Christmas Eve incident at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. Peggie, a nurse with more than 30 years' unblemished service, had a sudden and heavy period during her shift.
She entered the women's changing room to check her scrubs – and found Dr Beth Upton already inside, undressing. Upton is a man who claims to be a woman. Peggie voiced her discomfort. What was said is disputed, but Upton complained – and the board logged it as a 'hate incident.'
This wasn't a political protest or a publicity stunt. It was a woman, bleeding through her clothes, asking for privacy. To anyone outside NHS Fife's boardroom or trans activist cliques, it's obvious: a woman spoke up against an entitled man, and her employers punished her for it.
Peggie was accused of 'misgendering' and faced allegations of gross misconduct – not just for the changing room exchange, but for allegedly 'failing to communicate' with Upton and putting patient care at risk. In May last year, she filed a tribunal claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton for sexual harassment, belief discrimination, and victimisation – all while still under investigation by the trust.
Last night, after 18 months, NHS Fife issued a mealy-mouthed statement conceding that there was 'insufficient evidence' to support any finding of misconduct. Yet in court, their lawyers have pressed on.
The tribunal, which began in February, resumed this week with testimony from Isla Bumba, the trust's equality and human rights officer. Bumba, a diversity officer with no formal policy in place to guide her, admitted she was asked to write guidance on trans staff facilities when Dr Upton was hired. Inexperienced but well remunerated, Bumba told the court she based her understanding on a 'general consensus' among health boards.
Then in April, the Supreme Court finally spelled it out: under the Equality Act, 'woman' means biological female. The court confirmed that even those with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) may lawfully be excluded from single-sex spaces. Upton, notably, does not even have a GRC.
In the months since, like other public bodies blindsided by reality, NHS Fife is scrambling to revise its guidance. The trust now says 'work is underway across the entirety of the health board's estate' to ensure compliance with the ruling. All they ever needed to do, of course, was listen to Peggie.
The trust still insists it acted appropriately. And it continues to burn through NHS time, money and credibility in the process. While junior doctors strike, hospitals crumble, and patients wait months for care, NHS Fife's management is shovelling public money into defending a policy apparently cobbled together by a recent graduate who seems to have mistaken fashionable groupthink for the law.
Earlier today, First Minister John Swinney bestowed what will surely be the kiss of death: his 'full confidence' in NHS Fife. Just as Nicola Sturgeon's career was shredded by her handling of the Isla Bryson scandal – a double rapist who declared himself a woman and was placed in a women's prison, Swinney now appears to be staking his reputation on the judgment of gender ideologues.
If this is a gamble on public patience, NHS Fife is betting with borrowed chips – and the public has just about had enough of being the house that always loses.