A nurse was so 'uncomfortable' in the prospect of changing for her transcollega that she left and waited in the hallway, heard a tribunal.
Nurse Sandie Peggie has claimed to be made to be changed next to Dr. Beth Upton, a transwoman, is illegal intimidation under the equality act.
Mrs. Peggie was in the dressing room in a Fife Hospital in 2023 on Christmas Eve to discover that Dr. Upton was there and then started to undress.
The nurse looked away and challenged the doctor, but Dr. Upton told her that they had just as much right to be in the dressing room as she was.
It was the last of three times that Mrs. Peggie had met the doctor in the dressing room in the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, an employment tribunal in Dundee heard yesterday.
Dr. Upton complained about the behavior and NHS Fife -Bazen brought Mrs. Peggie on leave and then suspended her.
It was in August 2023 that Mrs. Peggie Dr. Upton saw for the first time with the female dressing room when the nurse opened the door and saw the doctor inside.
Instead of using the room, Mrs. Peggie told the tribunal, she chose to wait in the hallway for Dr. Upton left.
Sandie Peggie objected to Dr. Beth Upton using the changing facility in the A&E in the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, FIFE
Protesters who demanded safe spaces for women who gathered outside the tribunal
She said to the tribunal: “I feel uncomfortable to change for men.”
While she told a colleague outside the dressing room that she was' not happy 'about the situation, and yesterday the tribunal told:' I was upset that he could use it. I didn't want to go inside, I felt ashamed. I didn't want to change for him. '
The tribunal heard that Mrs. Peggie changed in October of that year. Upton came in – and the nurse put on her work again, left the room and waited in the hallway because she was 'ashamed'.
And on Christmas Eve that year the nurse entered the dressing room where they were Dr. Upton found who started to undress.
Mrs. Peggie, who started working for the FIFE Health Board in 1994, said she was to Dr. Upton said that it was 'unacceptable' that the medic there was that she was 'ashamed and intimidated' and that she did not think 'he should have been within it'.
And she said to the tribunal: “Beth told me he had just as much right to be there as I do.
“I told him that that was not true and if I wanted to change for a man, I would have gone to the man's dressing room.”
Mrs. Peggie said she hoped Dr. Upton 'I would realize my discomfort' and that they 'just talk normally' and there were 'no increased voices' during their interaction.
A few days later she was suspended and on leave.
Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, where Mrs. Peggie worked
The A&E nurse rejected Jane Russell KC, Die NHS Fife and Dr. Upton represented her that her aversion to Beth Upton was so strong [Ms Peggie] refused to work with her with the disadvantage of patients and that Mrs. Peggie did this because Dr. Upton 'trans was'.
Mrs. Russell said Mrs. Peggie Dr. Upton had ignored, but Mrs. Peggie told her, “I never ignored Beth.”
And the KC told the Tribunal that Dr. Upton had made simultaneous notes on a mobile phone on incidents.
During proof, Mrs. Peggie said that when they first crossed paths, she thought Dr. Upton was a man because of characteristics, including a 'prominent' Apple from Adam.
And provide evidence on the first day of the tribunal, which is expected to take 10 days, Mrs. Peggie told her lawyer Naomi Cunningham that the dressing room had a sign that 'only for women'.
A spokesperson for NHS Fife said that it would be 'inappropriate to respond' during the tribunal and added: 'It is important to acknowledge that the core of this case is two employees who have to be treated with kindness and respect.
“As an organization, NHS FIFE remains dedicated to maintain its duty of care to all employees.”
The tribunal, before the right Sandy Kemp, continues.
