SANDIE Peggie's appeal against the findings of an employment tribunal against NHS Fife has been allowed to proceed, her legal team has said.
The nurse took action against NHS Fife after sharing a changing-room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital in December 2023.
In December last year the tribunal upheld claims of harassment against her employer, but dismissed allegations of discrimination, indirect discrimination and victimisation.
On Monday, Peggie’s legal team announced an appeal against the findings will be allowed to move forward, with a hearing likely to take place early in the new year.
“On July 31 2026, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) confirmed that Sandie Peggie’s appeal against the judgment of the employment tribunal dated December 8 2025 should now proceed to a full appeal hearing," they said.
“This follows a decision taken by His Honour Judge James Tayler on July 30 2026 that there are reasonable grounds for bringing 13 grounds of appeal contained in Mrs Peggie’s notice of appeal dated January 19 2026.”
Peggie had brought the tribunal against both her employer, NHS Fife, and colleague Dr Upton after allegations that the Equality Act 2010 had been breached by the health board’s decision to allow Upton to use female changing facilities.
On Christmas Eve 2023, both Peggie and Upton were using the changing room at around midnight when a confrontation occurred.
The tribunal case centred on whether the board’s decision to allow Upton to use the space was legal, Dr Upton’s complaint about how Peggie acted on the Christmas Eve meeting, and Peggie’s concerns about how NHS Fife handled that complaint.
All of Peggie's claims against Dr Upton – who no longer works at NHS Fife – were dismissed.
However, it did find that NHS Fife had harassed Peggie by continuing to allow Dr Upton to use female changing spaces after the complaint had been lodged, meaning the pair shared the space while the dispute process was underway, that it took an "unreasonable" length of time to investigated the allegations against Peggie and referenced allegations about her professionalism with patient care.
It also said NHS Fife had harassed Peggie by instructing her not to discuss the case publicly.
The tribunal found that Peggie had given evidence that was at times "not credible" or "not reliable". This included her reasons for sharing racist jokes about Pakistani people, which the tribunal called an “untruthful attempt to downplay what she had done”.
During the hearing, it was revealed that Peggie has shared racist jokes, including mocking the victims of floods that killed thousands in 2022 in Pakistan by saying the country would look like a “bowl of coco pops”.
NHS Fife has been contacted for comment.
