Latest news with #gender-critical
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
Consultant admits ‘flagrant breach of confidentiality' in Peggie gender dispute
A consultant sobbed as she spoke about her involvement in a dispute between a transgender doctor and a gender-critical nurse – as well as admitting a 'flagrant breach of confidentiality', a tribunal heard. Sandie Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation. On Wednesday, consultant Dr Kate Searle admitted she sought out a witness to patient safety allegations made by Dr Upton, which occurred previously in December 2023 but were unreported. Dr Searle sobbed when the woman was mentioned and alleged that the healthcare worker 'did not want to be involved in this for fear that, as a mixed race person, she feared Ms Peggie's views about her race would affect her going forward working in our department with Ms Peggie'. During cross-examination by Ms Peggie's barrister, Naomi Cunningham, Dr Searle admitted she had not been subject to disciplinary proceedings for it. Dr Searle agreed that the witness was 'the only person who was likely to be able to shed light on Dr Upton's claim that Ms Peggie refused to engage', in a resuscitation unit, however, she argued with Ms Cunningham about the woman's recollection of the incident. Ms Cunningham said the healthcare worker 'gave a clear answer that factually contradicted Dr Upton, as she said she recalled a conversation between Beth and Sandie, although couldn't recall details', during an internal probe, the tribunal heard. However, Dr Searle argued three times about the witness's recollection and concluded that the healthcare worker was 'contradicting herself', and said twice that she could not 'recall when it happened'. She said she 'couldn't recall' when she spoke to the healthcare worker, and admitted sending an email to 19 consultants on December 29 2023, describing the comments allegedly made by Ms Peggie as 'questioning her (Dr Upton's) whole being' the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham asked if the doctor got in touch with the investigation manager to 'confess that you had left confidentiality in ruins' with an email to 19 consultants sent on December 29 2023, regarding the dispute which offered 'support' to Dr Upton and to 'condemn the actions' of Ms Peggie. Dr Searle said: 'I did not.' She denied attempting to 'bend the rules and transgress boundaries' by accompanying the junior doctor to an investigation meeting, and was accused by Ms Cunningham of 'turning up the temperature and increasing the emotional heat of the Datix report', the tribunal heard. Datix is a system used in healthcare settings to report incidents and manage risk, with a view to improving care. Dr Searle said: 'I reported it at time as I saw fit.' Ms Cunningham said: 'If the normal rules had been followed you wouldn't have been allowed to be present for Dr Upton's interview.' It was put to her that approaching a witness was a 'flagrant breach' of confidentiality. Dr Searle said: 'In hindsight, yes.' The barrister said priorities were 'surprising', and added: 'It seems you were more shocked by Sandie's refusal to play along with the pretence Dr Upton is a woman than about allegations of abandoning patients in resuscitation.' Dr Searle said: 'We didn't initially see they were big patient safety issues but, once it was all reported, we see they are.' She admitted adding the word 'rapist' to a Datix report although Dr Upton's account referred to a comment about prisons, the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham said: 'You have added the word 'rapist' to the Datix haven't you?' Dr Searle said: 'What makes that comment so offensive and intimidating is the inference it is like Isla Bryson who is convicted male rapist, which is why its important to mention that on Datix.' She told the tribunal: 'I would not have known what sex Dr Upton was assigned at birth.' The consultant said she believed Ms Peggie had been cleared during a disciplinary 'due to lack of evidence', and 'believed and still do, that this was a hate incident', the tribunal heard. The tribunal continues.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Consultant admits ‘flagrant breach of confidentiality' in Peggie gender dispute
A consultant sobbed as she spoke about her involvement in a dispute between a transgender doctor and a gender-critical nurse – as well as admitting a 'flagrant breach of confidentiality', a tribunal heard. Sandie Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation. On Wednesday, consultant Dr Kate Searle admitted she sought out a witness to patient safety allegations made by Dr Upton, which occurred previously in December 2023 but were unreported. Dr Searle sobbed when the woman was mentioned and alleged that the healthcare worker 'did not want to be involved in this for fear that, as a mixed race person, she feared Ms Peggie's views about her race would affect her going forward working in our department with Ms Peggie'. During cross-examination by Ms Peggie's barrister, Naomi Cunningham, Dr Searle admitted she had not been subject to disciplinary proceedings for it. Dr Searle agreed that the witness was 'the only person who was likely to be able to shed light on Dr Upton's claim that Ms Peggie refused to engage', in a resuscitation unit, however, she argued with Ms Cunningham about the woman's recollection of the incident. Ms Cunningham said the healthcare worker 'gave a clear answer that factually contradicted Dr Upton, as she said she recalled a conversation between Beth and Sandie, although couldn't recall details', during an internal probe, the tribunal heard. However, Dr Searle argued three times about the witness's recollection and concluded that the healthcare worker was 'contradicting herself', and said twice that she could not 'recall when it happened'. She said she 'couldn't recall' when she spoke to the healthcare worker, and admitted sending an email to 19 consultants on December 29 2023, describing the comments allegedly made by Ms Peggie as 'questioning her (Dr Upton's) whole being' the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham asked if the doctor got in touch with the investigation manager to 'confess that you had left confidentiality in ruins' with an email to 19 consultants sent on December 29 2023, regarding the dispute which offered 'support' to Dr Upton and to 'condemn the actions' of Ms Peggie. Dr Searle said: 'I did not.' She denied attempting to 'bend the rules and transgress boundaries' by accompanying the junior doctor to an investigation meeting, and was accused by Ms Cunningham of 'turning up the temperature and increasing the emotional heat of the Datix report', the tribunal heard. Datix is a system used in healthcare settings to report incidents and manage risk, with a view to improving care. Dr Searle said: 'I reported it at time as I saw fit.' Ms Cunningham said: 'If the normal rules had been followed you wouldn't have been allowed to be present for Dr Upton's interview.' It was put to her that approaching a witness was a 'flagrant breach' of confidentiality. Dr Searle said: 'In hindsight, yes.' The barrister said priorities were 'surprising', and added: 'It seems you were more shocked by Sandie's refusal to play along with the pretence Dr Upton is a woman than about allegations of abandoning patients in resuscitation.' Dr Searle said: 'We didn't initially see they were big patient safety issues but, once it was all reported, we see they are.' She admitted adding the word 'rapist' to a Datix report although Dr Upton's account referred to a comment about prisons, the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham said: 'You have added the word 'rapist' to the Datix haven't you?' Dr Searle said: 'What makes that comment so offensive and intimidating is the inference it is like Isla Bryson who is convicted male rapist, which is why its important to mention that on Datix.' She told the tribunal: 'I would not have known what sex Dr Upton was assigned at birth.' The consultant said she believed Ms Peggie had been cleared during a disciplinary 'due to lack of evidence', and 'believed and still do, that this was a hate incident', the tribunal heard. The tribunal continues.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Medics objecting to Sandie Peggie's return warned of culpability, tribunal told
Senior medics who objected to a decision to allow a gender-critical nurse to return to work following a dispute with a transgender doctor were warned they were 'culpable' if patient safety concerns were not correctly reported, a tribunal heard. Sandie Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation. The tribunal resumed in Dundee on July 16 after an initial set of hearings in February. On Monday, service manager Charlotte Myles, who made a decision to lift the suspension on March 7, told the tribunal that two senior consultants and two senior nurses 'weren't happy' at her decision to allow Ms Peggie to return to work. Ms Myles said that Dr Kate Searle and Dr Maggie Currer both objected to her decision, while senior nurse managers Esther Davidson and Louise Curran 'similarly expressed' objections, but were not able to give an 'accurate response' regarding alleged patient safety concerns. She said she told Ms Peggie verbally on March 7 and in writing on March 12 that the suspension would be lifted. However, it was later reinstated due to issues with looking after the nurse's dog, and she returned to work around April 12 2024. Ms Myles said that 'usually we don't like to suspend' and she believed there were no patient safety issues, the tribunal heard. However she said that she 'wasn't impressed' by allegations made by senior medics and warned them to comply with correct protocols and policies. Ms Myles said: 'When I explained to staff members they weren't particularly happy with my decision initially.' She said she visited Dr Searle's office to co-ordinate a rota and was met with further objections, but warned the consultant she was 'culpable' if allegations were not reported correctly, the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'Kate Searle expressed unhappiness that we were taking Ms Peggie back into the workplace and made a comment saying there had been patient safety issues, there had been other behaviours towards a doctor. I asked if this had been investigated and reported appropriately, and she said no. 'I said that if these events had happened and they had not been reported, you were culpable.' She added: 'They weren't happy but it was my sole responsibility to review the suspension. My primary concern is to make sure patients are getting seen.' The witness said she did not know 'what the indicators were… to be suspended in the first place' and felt there 'was no risk', the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'I wasn't impressed; if someone wants to raise patient safety concern it should go through correct process and be escalated at the time the incident happened. My stance was: 'If you have not followed correct protocol and policy you are culpable'.' She said that Ms Davidson alleged that a doctor had been subject to a racist slur by Ms Peggie, and branded allegations by Ms Curran that the nurse shared Donald Trump's views on gender 'tittle-tattle', the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'It was very similar, tittle-tattle of being a supporter of Donald Trump and sharing his views on gender. That's somebody's personal view and as long as it doesn't impact on workforce or patients or cause harm, people are entitled to have their private views.' She said she perceived Dr Upton to be 'a female colleague', but said: 'I do believe we should make alterations to support everybody, but how we do it is completely out of my remit.' During re-examination by Jane Russell KC, representing NHS Fife and Dr Upton, the witness was asked about the alleged comments. Ms Myles said: 'I was told Sandie Peggie had called a member of the medical team a P**i but that was not reported formally; when I asked Esther which member of the team it was directed at, it took a while to get a response. I believe the person who was supposed to have had the comment directed at them doesn't recall the comment being directed at them.' Judge Alexander Kemp asked if she had seen a previous risk assessment for suspending Ms Peggie, and the witness said she had not, despite asking for previous documentation prior to March 7. The tribunal continues.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
I admit to being a ‘Terf': Tired of Explaining Reality to Fools
One of the things that makes me feel most patriotic – and such feelings do not come easily, trust me – is that I live on Terf Island. Baffled Americans who have swallowed the Kool Aid and recite things like 'Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary people are valid', while living in a country that chops the breasts off disturbed young women, look at the likes of me and my friends, who want kids left alone, and think it is us who have the problem. For them we are some kind of monsters. We, the Terfs of Terf Island (a misguidedly derogatory nickname that reflects the UK's important role as the centre of gender-critical feminism), want to protect the rights of women and children. And with support we are slowly turning the pernicious gender juggernaut round in just about every area. I can't remember the first time I was called a Terf. It was meant as an insult (trans-exclusionary radical feminist). Originally, the only bit that I felt applied to me was 'feminist'. I did not want to exclude trans people. I am not that radical. But I am tired. It's been a long old battle trying to explain that biology should not trump ideology. TERF: Tired of Explaining Reality to F---wits. To be labelled a Terf was an attempt to shut bolshy women down. Now, a new book, Terf Island, by Sex Matters campaigner Fiona McAnena, reflects the struggle by looking at the social history of the resistance to gender ideology. It's out on August 1, and is well worth a read. As the book highlights, our basic objections were (and still are) to men in women's spaces, men in women's sports, the medicalisation and sterilisation of children, and the erasure of the word women from language so that we became 'people with cervixes' or 'gestational carriers'. The idea that sex itself was changeable and just an undefined feeling in your head? We didn't buy any of this and we were seen as old, redundant, out of touch. Why wouldn't a bunch of awkward, often middle-aged women (which included lesbians) just go along with the shiny new creed where no one was born male or female anymore and everyone could be everything on a whim, the trans activists must have wondered. How mega exciting! (And how profitable for big pharma, big medicine, big shrinkery.) Who would not want to be modern and sexually ambiguous? As for stuff like rights and spaces and protections for women and safeguarding for children… who cares? That was from the dark days, before rainbow lanyards and flags. Yet Terfs just would not get with the programme. We committed the biggest sin of all. We simply did not believe that a man in a wig and stockings could be a woman. What's more, we organised – and held gatherings supported by the advocacy group Woman's Place. Networks were created. The Lesbian and Gay Alliance was formed. Court cases where women had been discriminated against for their 'gender-critical beliefs' were won. Bit by bit, Terf Island was countering the ultra-effective lobbying of Stonewall, which had wormed its way into many public sector bodies. In Scotland, Sturgeon's push to allow gender self-ID fell apart after we saw where that could lead – Isla Bryson, a rapist in a female prison. Since then, Labour, having idiotically signed up to the SNP's self-ID cause, has been coming round. We have had the Sullivan Review, the Cass Review and the Supreme Court ruling, all seeking to improve data collection, policy-making and definitions around sex and gender, rooted in biological fact. I've been maligned for years as a Terf, so excuse me while I celebrate the victories of grassroots groups of busy women against much of the establishment. Other European countries, Australia and, whisper it, some Americans are now paying attention to our push-back, particularly on puberty blockers and 'gender medicine'. Trump's slogan at the election ' Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you ' tapped into the unease many were already feeling. But cult thinking is hard to give up. Tim Roca, the Labour MP for Macclesfield, does not appear to have got the memo that his party has accepted that the word woman means biological woman. He found the Supreme Court judgment 'very depressing', even though it simply clarified the law. He described 'transphobes' as 'swivel-eyed' and 'not very well people'. It's going to be very hard for these people to row back. One-hit wonder Kate Nash has recorded a song that rambles on and then addresses people like me as germs. ('Exclusionary, regressive, misogynist (germ, germ)/Yeah, you're not rad at all.') A young posh duo called the Lambrini Girls perform a muddled ditty with the chorus 'Shut your stupid f---ing mouth you stupid f---ing Terf / There's a reason your kids aren't returning your calls, Carol'. I am afraid these people may think they are rad and out-there but they are missing what is going on. You know, in the world? The slow-motion car-crash of the tribunal of Sandie Peggie, who was cleared of misconduct after NHS Fife suspended her when she complained about having to share a changing room with Dr Beth Upton, a transgender medic, is revealing what happens when an organisation panders to the whims of a trans-identifying male. We end up with a nurse suspended for wanting to change in private. The Peggie case is covering NHS Fife in gender woo-woo that it can't shake it off. It has beclowned itself by putting gender ideology above common sense. This is the level of insanity that Terfs have stood against for years now. But it's changing.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Medics objecting to Sandie Peggie's return warned of culpability, tribunal told
Senior medics who objected to a decision to allow a gender-critical nurse to return to work following a dispute with a transgender doctor were warned they were 'culpable' if patient safety concerns were not correctly reported, a tribunal heard. Sandie Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation. The tribunal resumed in Dundee on July 16 after an initial set of hearings in February. On Monday, service manager Charlotte Myles, who made a decision to lift the suspension on March 7, told the tribunal that two senior consultants and two senior nurses 'weren't happy' at her decision to allow Ms Peggie to return to work. Ms Myles said that Dr Kate Searle and Dr Maggie Currer both objected to her decision, while senior nurse managers Esther Davidson and Louise Curran 'similarly expressed' objections, but were not able to give an 'accurate response' regarding alleged patient safety concerns. She said she told Ms Peggie verbally on March 7 and in writing on March 12 that the suspension would be lifted. However, it was later reinstated due to issues with looking after the nurse's dog, and she returned to work around April 12 2024. Ms Myles said that 'usually we don't like to suspend' and she believed there were no patient safety issues, the tribunal heard. However she said that she 'wasn't impressed' by allegations made by senior medics and warned them to comply with correct protocols and policies. Ms Myles said: 'When I explained to staff members they weren't particularly happy with my decision initially.' She said she visited Dr Searle's office to co-ordinate a rota and was met with further objections, but warned the consultant she was 'culpable' if allegations were not reported correctly, the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'Kate Searle expressed unhappiness that we were taking Ms Peggie back into the workplace and made a comment saying there had been patient safety issues, there had been other behaviours towards a doctor. I asked if this had been investigated and reported appropriately, and she said no. 'I said that if these events had happened and they had not been reported, you were culpable.' She added: 'They weren't happy but it was my sole responsibility to review the suspension. My primary concern is to make sure patients are getting seen.' The witness said she did not know 'what the indicators were… to be suspended in the first place' and felt there 'was no risk', the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'I wasn't impressed; if someone wants to raise patient safety concern it should go through correct process and be escalated at the time the incident happened. My stance was: 'If you have not followed correct protocol and policy you are culpable'.' She said that Ms Davidson alleged that a doctor had been subject to a racist slur by Ms Peggie, and branded allegations by Ms Curran that the nurse shared Donald Trump's views on gender 'tittle-tattle', the tribunal heard. Ms Myles said: 'It was very similar, tittle-tattle of being a supporter of Donald Trump and sharing his views on gender. That's somebody's personal view and as long as it doesn't impact on workforce or patients or cause harm, people are entitled to have their private views.' She said she perceived Dr Upton to be 'a female colleague', but said: 'I do believe we should make alterations to support everybody, but how we do it is completely out of my remit.' During re-examination by Jane Russell KC, representing NHS Fife and Dr Upton, the witness was asked about the alleged comments. Ms Myles said: 'I was told Sandie Peggie had called a member of the medical team a P**i but that was not reported formally; when I asked Esther which member of the team it was directed at, it took a while to get a response. I believe the person who was supposed to have had the comment directed at them doesn't recall the comment being directed at them.' Judge Alexander Kemp asked if she had seen a previous risk assessment for suspending Ms Peggie, and the witness said she had not, despite asking for previous documentation prior to March 7. The tribunal continues.
