NHS nurse suspended following complaint about trans doctor wins public hearing
The nurse objected to Dr Upton using the female changing rooms. (Getty)
A Scottish NHS nurse, suspended for complaining about a a trans doctor she worked with, Beth Upton, has won the right to have her hearing held in public.
Sandie Peggie objected to Dr Beth Upton using the women’s changing rooms at the A&E at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
She claimed that she felt intimidated and embarrassed by Dr Upton using the changing room that aligned with her gender, despite Dr Upton having the right to do so.
During a 2023 Christmas Eve incident the two “exchanged words”, with Dr Upton reaching out to the NHS Fife for support. Peggie was placed on “special leave” without an investigation.
Peggie was subsequently suspended from January 2024 until April. She is now taking NHS Fife and Dr Upton to an employment tribunal, claiming that she was harassed – rather than the other way round.
NHS Fife and Dr Upton requested that the case be heard in private, however that move was opposed by Peggie as well as various gender-critical campaign groups, according to the Daily Record, and has now been rejected by Judge Antoine Tinnio, who ordered that the tribunal be held in public.
‘Unnecessary and vexatious’
Tinnio said in his ruling that he made the decision as there was already public interest in the case. He noted that “with the BBC, The Times, other media and other campaigning groups wishing to attend the final hearing and be permitted to report it to their audiences,” the public hearing would enable press and campaigning groups to report on the case.
He added: “Dr Upton’s status as a trans woman, although not public knowledge, is not a secret — her family and close friends already know, as does her employer, and likely several of her colleagues who work with her and patients she has treated.”
NHS Fife has rejected Peggie’s claims that she was harassed. The health organisation has also condemned her decision to take legal action and name Dr Beth Upton as “both unnecessary and vexatious.”
The tribunal will take place over ten days in February.
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