The NHS’s persecution of Sandie Peggie

Sandie Peggie, the nurse who took on NHS Fife, has reason to celebrate. An employment tribunal has criticised managers at the hospital where she worked for the terrible way in which they treated her. Her ordeal began when she complained about being made to share a changing room and undress in front of a male, transgender-identifying colleague. The tribunal’s judgement, published this week, found that Peggie had been harassed by NHS Fife and that her complaint should have been handled differently.

Sadly, no amount of champagne can make up for what Peggie has been put through by NHS Fife. And advocates for women’s sex-based rights need to be clear-headed about the limitations of this week’s judgement. The truth is, Peggie’s victory in her employment tribunal is partial and narrow. In fact, without a successful appeal, the judgement may end up further undermining women’s right to single-sex provision.

It is shocking that Peggie, who has worked as a nurse in Scotland for 30 years, ever found herself embroiled in legal proceedings. She should never have been expected to undress, after a long shift and having experienced a heavy period, in front of Beth Upton, a male doctor who identifies as a woman. It is appalling that, having complained to managers about this lack of privacy and affront to her dignity, it was not Upton who was disciplined, but Peggie. She was branded a bigot, accused of gross misconduct and suspended from her job.

It was only in July this year, following an 18-month internal investigation, that Peggie was cleared of ‘misconduct’. Courageously, she continued to fight a separate employment tribunal, accusing her managers and the hospital trust that employed her of sexual harassment and belief discrimination. In the process, she was hung out to dry by her trade union and had her relationship with her daughter subjected to public scrutiny. That it was necessary for Peggie to undergo these legal proceedings is a damning indictment of the extent to which the NHS has ditched common sense for transgender activism. That it took a 312-page legal judgement, published this week, to state that she was right is insane.

Yet, despite Peggie’s moral victory, there are reasons to be concerned about the tribunal’s judgement. It finds that her suspension was unjust and that her manager should have taken action to protect her dignity – but only at the point at which she expressed her concerns. In other words, women can complain about the presence of men in their changing rooms, provided they do so politely, but it is not necessarily wrong for men to be there in the first place. If Peggie had not complained, Upton would have been within his rights to continue using the female facilities, the tribunal said. This is even despite the recent landmark UK Supreme Court ruling that sex is biological under equality law.

In reaching ‘balance’ when deciding who uses which changing room, employers are, according to the press summary of the judgement, allowed to take into account the availability of other options, ‘the extent to which the trans person has changed physiological attributes of sex’, ‘how the trans person appeared to others’, and ‘the extent to which there were complaints from other staff’. As this ruling makes clear, it is impossible to reach a compromise between sex and gender identity. Any attempt falls back on the extent to which a transgender person ‘passes’ as a member of the opposite sex and the likelihood of women complaining about their presence. This is completely unacceptable.

A space is either single-sex, or it is not. If it calls itself female-only, but permits men wearing lipstick and a skirt, then it is not a single sex-space. Putting the onus on women to kick up a fuss about the presence of unwanted males in their changing rooms is grossly unfair. As Peggie’s case shows, on Christmas Eve, at the end of a long shift, and when dealing with a heavy period, women wanting privacy should not have to go looking for a friendly manager to issue formal, but polite, complaints. Why should they, at any time? And while bosses may no longer be able to brand such women ‘bigots’, those forced into having to make complaints will always fear falling foul of the #BeKind brigade.

As the brilliant Sex Matters points out, this week’s judgement, although ostensibly against NHS Fife, leaves it to individual women to upend their lives, fundraise to bring about court cases and then endure cross-examination and public scrutiny – just to win back what was a right that was beyond question until recently, and which most people still support. Peggie deserves to celebrate her partial success this week. If nothing else, she needs fortifying for the legal cases she is still fighting: against NHS Fife health board which still allows transgender-identifying men in female changing rooms, its chief executive and head of people and culture, and against her trade union, the Royal College of Nursing, for failing to protect her and help her when she was suspended.

So all power to Sandie Peggie, a brave and tenacious woman. But the fight for women’s sex-based rights is far from won.

Joanna Williams is a spiked columnist and author of How Woke Won. Follow her on Substack: cieo.substack.com.