❓WHAT HAPPENED: A National Health Service (NHS) nurse in the United Kingdom won part of her employment tribunal case after complaining about sharing a female-only changing room with a transgender doctor.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Nurse Sandie Peggie, Dr. Beth Upton (formerly Theodore), and NHS Fife.

📍WHEN & WHERE: Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, tribunal hearings in Dundee, with the judgment delivered this month.

💬KEY QUOTE: “I am beyond relieved and delighted that the tribunal has found that my employer Fife Health Board harassed me after I complained about having to share a female-only changing room with a male colleague.” – Sandie Peggie

🎯IMPACT: The tribunal upheld the harassment claim against NHS Fife, but dismissed allegations of discrimination and victimisation, as well as claims against Dr. Upton.

A British National Health Service (NHS) nurse, Sandie Peggie, has secured a partial victory at an employment tribunal against NHS Fife after raising objections to sharing a female-only changing room with a transgender doctor, Dr. Beth Upton (formerly Theodore). The dispute centred on Ms Peggie’s discomfort at sharing the space with a man, and on later allegations by Dr. Upton that Ms Peggie had engaged in bullying and harassment.

The tribunal, held in Dundee, Scotland, upheld Peggie’s claim of harassment by her employer but rejected her claims of direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, and victimization.

In its decision, the tribunal found that NHS Fife had acted improperly by failing to revoke permission for Upton to use the women-only changing room, and by dragging out the investigation into the complaint for an unreasonably long time. The board also made “inappropriate references to patient care allegations” against Peggie during that process, which the tribunal said contributed to the harassing conduct.

Peggie reacted to the ruling saying, “I am beyond relieved and delighted that the tribunal has found that my employer, Fife Health Board, harassed me after I complained about having to share a female-only changing room with a male colleague.”

The allegations against Upton were dismissed; the tribunal found no wrongdoing on his part. Peggie’s solicitor, Margaret Gribbon, described the outcome as “a huge win for a tenacious and courageous woman standing up for her sex-based rights,” and noted the case had been “extraordinarily lengthy and complex.”

The case comes against a broader legal backdrop that has recently changed in Britain. On April 16, 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, under the terms of the Equality Act 2010, the words “woman” and “sex” refer to biological sex at birth, not gender identity.

The court held that transgender “women” do not meet the legal definition of a woman for the purposes of certain sex-based protections and single-sex spaces such as changing rooms, refuges, hospitals, and women-only services. As a result, institutions such as hospitals, shelters, sports clubs, and other single-sex services now have clearer legal ground to exclude transgenders from female-only spaces.

Image by Maggie Jones.

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