Sandie Peggie case: Why NHS Fife chair Patricia Kilpatrick must apologise and resign
NHS Fife’s handling of complaints made by trans woman Dr Beth Upton about nurse Sandie Peggie has been shameful, writes Susan Dalgety
When nurse Sandie Peggie entered the female changing rooms at Kirkcaldy's Victoria Hospital late on Christmas Eve 2023, to deal with a sudden menstrual bleed, she could not have imagined her unexpected encounter with a colleague would result in a landmark legal case. But thanks to a catalogue of misjudgments, unforced errors and poor governance by NHS Fife this is exactly what has happened.
Peggie’s confrontation with Dr Beth Upton – a biological male who identifies as a women – led to disciplinary action against the nurse based solely on allegations made by the junior doctor. If found guilty, she would have been sacked, a tragic end to an exemplary 30-year career.
After being suspended, she brought an employment tribunal against her employers NHS Fife and Dr Upton, claiming her treatment amounted to harassment and discrimination, unlawful under the 2010 Equality Act.
Morally indefensible
It sat for several days in February and resumed yesterday, just as it was revealed that, following a hearing last month, Peggie had been cleared of all disciplinary charges against her. She had not misgendered or harassed Upton nor endangered patients, as claimed.
Yet NHS Fife and Upton, who share a legal team, turned up to defend what is surely now legally and morally indefensible. As Michael Foran, a leading expert in public law and equality, argued yesterday, how can any lawyer continue to argue that Peggie “harassed Dr Upton and endangered patient safety, when one of her clients [NHS Fife] has determined this didn’t happen”.
There are many other questions. Why did senior managers rely on the advice of Isla Bumba, a relatively inexperienced equality and diversity officer, before taking disciplinary action against Peggie. Bumba told the tribunal yesterday that at the time the health board did not have a written trans inclusion policy in place. Instead she relied on advice, not from lawyers, but from NHS Scotland’s Equality Network.
But it would be unfair to paint Bumba as the villain of the piece. The ultimate responsibility for this debacle lies with vastly the more experienced people charged with the good governance of NHS Fife – its board and, in particular, its chairperson Patricia Kilpatrick and chief executive Carol Potter.
‘Breathtaking disregard for their duties’
Why did they decide to continue with the employment tribunal – at huge cost to the public purse – after April’s Supreme Court judgment which clarified that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex?
Falkirk East MSP Michelle Thomson summed up the feelings of many at the weekend when she called for the board members to consider their position in light of their “breathtaking disregard for their duties of good governance...”
There have been many moments in the last decade that have left me aghast. The cancellation of women writers such as Jenny Lindsay. Girls forced to share school toilets with boys. A so-called feminist First Minister dismissing ordinary women’s views as “not valid”.
But the hounding of Peggie, a nurse who gave up her Christmas Eve to care for others, is perhaps the most shameful. When Kilpatrick calls NHS Fife health board to order at its next meeting on Tuesday, August 12, I hope the first piece of business will be a public apology to Sandie Peggie and the second, her resignation letter.
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