Date set for Sandie Peggie to face trade union in tribunal

Sandie Peggie claims the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) failed to support her

A tribunal between the nurse at the centre of a row over trans women using female changing rooms and her trade union will take place in September 2026.

Sandie Peggie alleges the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) failed to support her after she was suspended by NHS Fife in 2024 over claims she bullied and harassed Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

A seven-day hearing in Dundee will begin on 23 September, with Ms Peggie having previously claimed the RCN "contributed to her mistreatment" by not supporting her.

Ms Peggie took both NHS Fife and Dr Upton to a tribunal, which heard evidence throughout this year. A ruling in that case has yet to be announced.

After Ms Peggie was suspended by NHS Fife in January 2024 following an encounter with Dr Upton in the changing room, she contacted the RCN for advice.

She has since claimed it "failed to act like a trade union" and "contributed to her mistreatment".

Her lawyer, Margaret Gribbon, previously said the RCN repeatedly failed in advocating for female members distressed at trans women being allowed to use single-sex spaces.

Dr Upton was born male but now identifies as female.

Ms Gribbon also claimed that if the RCN supported Ms Peggie then she might not have had to raise legal proceedings against NHS Fife.

The RCN has denied all of Ms Peggie's claims.

RCN guidelines published in 2021 states members have a right to receive "support, guidance or representation regardless of your ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, marital status or civil partnership, age, pregnancy or any complaint you may have previously made about the RCN itself."

The union also says it has the "right to decide the nature and extent of the advice and guidance" it can provide.

Ms Peggie will once again use Naomi Cunningham (counsel) and Ms Gribbon (solicitor), who represented her during the tribunal with NHS Fife and Dr Upton.

The RCN will be represented by David Hay KC, instructed by Jemma Forrest (solicitor) of Anderson Strathern Solicitors, with the case lasting until 1 October 2026.

Sandie Peggie's legal action against NHS Fife

Ms Peggie has also raised further legal action against NHS Fife and several of the health board's employees, regarding those members of staff "opposing and lobbying" against a decision to lift Ms Peggie's suspension.

The nurse's legal team are working on an additional claim regarding this case, connected with an NHS Fife media statement released during the tribunal in July.

However, the action is currently paused while waiting for a judgment in the initial tribunal between Ms Peggie, NHS Fife and Dr Upton.

A three-person panel met for four days of deliberations regarding the case last month, but no date for a verdict has been announced.

Sex Matters, the gender-critical campaign group supporting Ms Peggie, previously said it hoped for a decision before Christmas.

Ms Peggie was cleared of allegations she bullied and harassed Dr Upton following an investigation by the health board.

She then lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief against the health board and Dr Upton under the 2010 Equality Act over the suspension.

The tribunal heard 20 days of evidence across two separate periods in February and June, with about 15 witnesses called, before hearing further submissions in September.