29-05-2025
EXCLUSIVE: Maximum NHS Fife payout to nurse at centre of trans tribunal revealed
The highest sum NHS Fife will have to pay the nurse at the centre of the trans row employment tribunal, if she wins her case, is £25,000.
Kirkcaldy medic Sandie Peggie is suing the health board after she was suspended following a row with trans doctor Beth Upton on Christmas Eve in 2023.
No settlement has been reached between the two parties.
According to details obtained by The Courier under Freedom of Information laws, the five-figure sum is the absolute maximum NHS Fife would be liable for.
If Ms Peggie is to be awarded more than £25,000, the rest of the money will come from a national risk scheme designed to protect NHS boards from heavy losses.
The Courier reported in March that the health board was only responsible for 'part' of the legal bill for the hearing.
We can also reveal NHS Fife has spent a total of £184,000 this year on six separate employment tribunals, covering legal fees and any settlements.
NHS Fife refused to say how much it has spent on Ms Peggie's tribunal, meaning the overall cost remains unknown.
On Wednesday, the health board was criticised by Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton for its 'poor handling' of FOI requests linked to spending.
Mr Hamilton said he was 'frustrated' by NHS Fife's approach which had led to an 'unnecessary delay'.
He ruled that the health board failed to do any proper checks to find the information requested.
NHS Fife previously claimed it could not provide the total sum spent on the case because this would disclose personal information.
Mr Hamilton disagreed.
'The commissioner cannot accept that the specific information requested can be the personal data of either of the individuals party to the tribunal,' he wrote.
'The costs are the authority's, not theirs.'
A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: 'NHS Fife notes the report from the Scottish Information Commissioner and intends to comply fully with its decision notice.'
In January 2024, we reported that NHS Fife's total costs on legal claims had passed £1.8 million in five years.
The health board had to spend more than £180,000 on one single claim by a patient.
The NHS Fife trans row employment tribunal in Dundee is set to resume on July 16.
