Sandie Peggie tribunal resumes after month-long break

A tribunal involving a female nurse and a transgender doctor sharing a changing room at an NHS Fife hospital is to resume after a month-long break.

Closing submissions will be heard in Dundee on Monday and Tuesday from Sandie Peggie and Dr Beth Upton’s legal teams.

The tribunal heard from all its witnesses before it was adjourned at the end of July.

Ms Peggie, a nurse, was suspended by NHS Fife after she complained about having to share a changing room with Dr Upton, a trans medic, at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, 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.

Neither Ms Peggie nor Dr Upton are expected to be recalled at the tribunal this week.

A judgment could take some time as a three-person panel considers a ruling.

The tribunal has already cost NHS Fife nearly £220,500 since it began earlier this year.

Last month, NHS Fife was told by the UK’s equality watchdog to “progress corrective actions without delay” regarding single-sex spaces after the health board admitted it failed to carry out an equality impact assessment previously.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) wrote to NHS Fife regarding access to single-sex facilities for staff on February 21 after the tribunal was adjourned.

Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the EHRC, said NHS Fife previously admitted no equality impact assessment had been carried out and one is now expected around September 30, having been commissioned retrospectively.

On June 10, it held a meeting to reiterate that the Scottish Government has a duty to ensure public bodies comply after the UK Supreme Court ruling in April that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.