Health board ‘in grip of a delusion’ over trans medic row, tribunal hears

A health board was in the “grip of a delusion” when it took action against a nurse who complained about sharing a changing room with a trans medic, an inquiry has heard.

Sandie Peggie was suspended by NHS Fife after complaining about having to share a changing room with Dr Beth Upton 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.

The tribunal, which is taking place in Dundee, is currently hearing closing submissions, having heard from all its witnesses before it was adjourned at the end of July.

In her closing submission on Monday, Ms Peggie’s lawyer Naomi Cunningham told the tribunal that NHS Fife had “taken on gender identify belief as its institutional position”, and that it had subjected the nurse to a “heresy hunt” when she challenged this.

“NHS Fife has subjected a nurse of 30 years’ unblemished service to a full-blown witch hunt to punish her for standing up for her right not to undress in front of a male colleague,” she told the tribunal.

These included, she said, the health board subjecting Ms Peggie to a “character assassination” and “groundless smears”, and seeking to “drive a wedge between her and her lesbian daughter”.

“What explains all of these things is that the organisation is in the grip of a delusion”, Ms Cunningham said.

She added: “It can only be maintained, in effect, with bullying. Reason doesn’t work. You can’t support a delusional belief with reasoned argument.”

She said this “delusion” was not restricted to NHS Fife, but that there were “any number of similar policies in both the public and private sector” based on the mistaken assumption that gender self-identification was the law.

She also told the tribunal that trans women should be excluded from women-only spaces as they’re “still men” both legally and factually.

“Trans women are men. That reality is enshrined in law,” she said, in a submission that included multiple references to the recent Supreme Court judgment on the definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010.

In her closing submission, Dr Upton’s lawyer Jane Russell KC said the thrust of Ms Peggie’s case was a “gender critical campaign”, and that she was trying to convince the tribunal “not just that certain things happened because of her belief, but also that her belief is true”.

Recounting the series of events beginning on December 24 2023, Ms Russell said Ms Peggie had faced action not because of her gender-critical beliefs, but because of the “objectionable and inappropriate” way she had “manifested” them.

During the Christmas Eve exchange in the changing room – which Dr Upton had been given permission to use – the lawyer said Ms Peggie had “repeatedly” misgendered Dr Upton, and caused her “gratuitous harm” by asking her about her chromosomes.

She also said the nurse made a “clear and obvious” reference to convicted rapist Isla Bryson, which Ms Russell described as a “hurtful, harmful and damaging slur”.

“What benign outcome could the claimant have hoped to achieve by confronting this young doctor at the start of her career alone in the changing room at midnight?” Ms Russell said.

“However you word it, the claimant made an unfortunate choice to confront Dr Upton in the way she did, and it’s that that crosses the line.”

She added that in her own evidence to the tribunal, Ms Peggie admitted she was the “only person guilty of harassment in this case”.

“By her own admission her conduct was worthy of treatment under the (health) board’s policy,” she said.

A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: “NHS Fife will not be commenting on specific aspects of the closing submissions in the ongoing employment tribunal proceedings at this time.”

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

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

Ms Russell is due to continue her closing submission on Tuesday.

The tribunal continues.