Former nurse Sandie Peggie to bring second lawsuit over NHS Fife suspension

Former NHS nurse Sandie Peggie is planning to bring a second lawsuit against her former workplace after she was suspended for confronting a trans colleague, Dr Beth Upton.

A legal group acting on behalf of Peggie announced her intention to bring further proceedings against NHS Fife, this time against its health board, two doctors, and a nurse manager.

Solicitor Margaret Gribbon confirmed on Wednesday morning (3 September) that a harassment and victimisation lawsuit had been filed against the Kirkcaldy hospital.

The suspended nurse is also considering further legal action against other NHS Fife employees, Gribbon added.

Peggie took legal action against her former workplace in January after she was suspended for confronting trans practitioner, Dr Beth Upton, in the women’s changing rooms over her gender identity.

Following the confrontation, Peggie requested that NHS Fife officials exclude Dr Upton from female facilities, which would have contradicted the hospital’s inclusion policies. She was eventually suspended over accusations that she behaved in an “unacceptable” manner, allegedly misgendering Dr Upton.

Dr Upton claimed during an employment tribunal that Ms Peggie compared her use of the facilities to the presence of trans rapist, Isla Bryson, in a women’s prison. A witness alleged the trans doctor was “visibly distressed and upset” following the confrontation.

The former nurse’s second legal petition was filed against three senior managers at NHS Fife: Dr Kate Searle, Dr Maggie Currier, and Esther Davidson.

All three officials were made aware of the action on 6 August and are expected to give an official statement later this month.

“The claim arises from these senior managers’ opposition to the decision by another Fife health board manager in March 2024 to lift Sandie’s suspension,” Gribbon said to The Scotsman.

“Sandie only became aware of this matter when the suspension review manager gave evidence at her tribunal hearing in July.”

The solicitor said it is planning to submit further claims of harassment against other NHS Fife employees in the coming months related to additional claims around the nurse’s “disciplinary hearing process.”

Sandie Peggie confronting Dr Beth Upton was ‘unacceptable’, tribunal hears

Gillian Malone, NHS Fife’s head of nursing, told an employment tribunal court in July that she felt Peggie’s behaviour against Dr Upton was “unacceptable,” adding she feels it isn’t right for “any colleague to confront another in that matter.”

During a subsequent hearing on 28 July, Peggie was confronted over leaked messages from a private group chat in which she called Dr Upton a “weirdo” and a “freak” and referred to her as “it.”

Peggie also allegedly made “offensive” jokes about the victims of floods in Pakistan in 2022 and said she wanted to post bacon through the letterbox of a local mosque.

Fellow nurse, Lindsay Nicoll, who was part of the group chat, told the tribunal she felt the messages suggested Peggie was racist and homophobic because of how she reacted to a close family member coming out as gay.

Asked about the messages, Peggie admitted the jokes were “offensive,” but defended them as “dark humour” that she hoped wouldn’t have been seen outside of the private group of “what I thought were very close friends.”

The former nurse’s lawyer, Naomi Cunningham, claimed during the hearing that Nicoll “thoroughly dislikes” Peggie and is “thoroughly hostile to her.”

She argued that, while the messages were a “thoroughly unpleasant sequence of jokes,” she claimed it was “not wholly unfair to refer to [Dr Upton] as a weirdo.”