What we should learn from the Sandie Peggie case

Across the UK, NHS services are coming under increasing pressure. Hospital waiting lists are too long while A&E departments struggle with patient demand. Nevertheless, at an employment tribunal in Scotland this week, we have learned that health boards like NHS Fife can apparently afford to suspend a senior A&E nurse with 30 years’ experience and an unblemished record for months simply because she dared to question the presence of a transwoman doctor in the ladies changing room.

Sandie Peggie’s remonstration with Dr Beth Upton was described as a ‘bullying’ incident by the junior doctor. However that did not deter nurse Peggie, who lodged a claim against both Dr Upton and the health board for sexual harassment, harassment relating to a protected belief, indirect discrimination and victimisation.

The otherwise cash-strapped NHS doesn’t have to worry about funding its defence: it has the bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money to rely on. Senior Counsel has been instructed to represent both the NHS Trust and Dr Upton, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds of public cash and the many hours of lost NHS time. To