A nurse who was suspended after complaining about sharing a changing room with her trans colleague has said calling the medic a man was stating the ‘truth’.
Sandie Peggie has sued NHS Fife and trans doctor Beth Upton, claiming having to change next to the female-identifying medic amounted to harassment under the Equality Act.
During 2023 the veteran A&E nurse encountered Dr Upton in the women’s changing room three times, but it was the last occasion in which she challenged the doctor about using the room in Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy.
Ms Peggie compared the situation to the Isla Bryson case – when the convicted rapist Adam Graham who was born a man was put into a female prison after declaring himself to be a woman.
On Christmas Eve 2023 Ms Peggie needed to use the changing room and, when she entered, other colleagues left leaving her alone with Dr Upton.
During the interaction, the tribunal was told by the NHS lawyer Jane Russell KC, Ms Peggie called Dr Upton a ‘man’ and the nurse was asked if she accepted ‘calling Beth a man is likely to cause immense distress to her’.
But Ms Peggie replied: ‘It’s the truth.’
On the day, the tribunal was told, Ms Peggie ‘compared the situation’ of ‘being in the changing room with Beth to women being in a prison with Isla Bryson’.
Sandie Peggie has sued NHS Fife and trans doctor Beth Upton, claiming having to change next to the female-identifying medic amounted to harassment under the Equality Act
Ms Peggie compared the situation to the Isla Bryson case – when the convicted rapist Adam Graham who was born a man was put into a female prison after declaring himself to be a woman
Ms Russell said the comparison was ‘offensive’ because it fed into a ‘narrative that Beth as a trans woman is a sexual predator when she’s not’.
But Ms Peggie, who was giving evidence for a second day, said: ‘I was describing at the time how women must feel with a man in a female prison – how they might feel awkward having a man in a prison with them.’
She told the tribunal she ‘never compared Beth to being a rapist’ and at the time the only detail of the case she knew was that a ‘biological man was being imprisoned in a female prison’.
What happened in the changing room was probed in detail yesterday – including who was closest to the exit door when the interaction took place.
Ms Peggie has said Dr Upton had been undressing while in the changing room with her, but Ms Russell said that the doctor did not undress.
Throughout the hearing Ms Peggie and her legal team have been referencing Dr Upton as a man with the pronouns he and him, while the opposing side has been referencing the medic as a woman with the pronouns she and her.
There was even a preliminary hearing to settle the matter, with the tribunal ruling Dr Upton could be called a man.
Ms Peggie told the tribunal in Dundee she had tried to call Dr Upton she and her but added: ‘I believe Dr Upton is a man. Where Dr Upton wanted to use she/her pronouns I did try to use she/her pronouns.
On Christmas Eve 2023 Ms Peggie needed to use the changing room and, when she entered, other colleagues left leaving her alone with Dr Upton. Pictured: Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy Fife
‘No, I’m not trying now because I believe that a man is a he and the pronouns should be he/him.’
Ms Russell said: ‘Well, looking at this definition of harassment your choice to do that counts as harassment under the respondent’s [NHS Fife] policy and, in fact, you were the only person in this case that is guilty of harassment under this policy aren’t you?’
The nurse replied: ‘Yes.’
She had encountered Dr Upton using the female changing room on three occasions, with the first in August 2023.
On the first two occasions she left and waited in the corridor for the doctor to leave, but on the third said something.
Ms Peggie said she was reluctant to leave the changing area ‘because of the situation that I was in with my menstruation’ and was ‘intimidated when he started taking his clothes off’.
During the lengthy questioning from Ms Russell, the KC asked Ms Peggie if she accepted that ‘calling Beth Upton, a trans woman, a man and telling her she’s not a woman is something that’s likely to cause immense distress to her’.
The nurse said: ‘When I’m faced in a situation where I was feeling intimidated, feeling embarrassed because of the situation I was in, and we were in the female toilet I wanted Beth to understand that being a man he shouldn’t have been in.’
After Dr Upton complained about the changing room incident Ms Peggie was placed on special leave and then suspended.
The tribunal, before judge Sandy Kemp, continues.
