Transgender doctor raised concerns over nurse 8 months after incident

Getty/Natee Meepian

By Sarah Ward, PA Media

A transgender doctor raised formal concerns about patient safety 8 months after an incident involving a female nurse occurred but denied trying to get her struck off, an employment tribunal has heard.

Nurse Sandie Peggie, who has worked at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, for 30 years, took the Fife Health Board and Dr Beth Upton to tribunal after being suspended following an incident on Christmas Eve 2023 in the female changing rooms.

Ms Peggie, known as the claimant, lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief under Section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 regarding three incidents when they shared a changing room: indirect harassment, victimisation, and whistleblowing.

That came after she was suspended in January 2024 following Dr Upton making an allegation of bullying and harassment.

Dr Upton gave evidence on Wednesday at a tribunal in Dundee, and was asked by lawyer Naomi Cunningham, representing Ms Peggie, why contemporaneous notes-to-self by Dr Upton did not include an allegation around patient safety, raised internally on December 29, two months after the incident supposedly happened on October 31.