If NHS Fife has its way, members of the public will not be able to watch a live stream of the final stage of the employment tribunal claim, scheduled for July, involving nurse Sandie Peggie and the Fife Hospital Board.
Instead, the public health service wants only accredited media to be allowed access to the proceedings broadcast online, citing “technical issues” such as non-media watchers being responsible for “interruptions” that allegedly resulted in significant delays during hearings held in February.
After those hearings, a judge decided to allow access exclusively to the media, which the health board now wants to continue until the conclusion of the case.
Peggie decided to take the board to the tribunal after she was suspended from Victoria Hospital in the Scottish town of Kirkcaldy for protesting the use of changing facilities reserved for women by a trans doctor, Beth Upton, who allegedly bullied and harassed the nurse.
Peggie made her objections on Christmas Eve 2025 and was suspended the following month.
The nurse’s claims against Upton include a complaint that she was subjected to sexual harassment or harassment related to protected belief, while the two shared the changing facilities.
In addition to blocking the public from learning about the developments and the decision in the case, NHS Fife also wants to prevent the Tribunal Tweets’ X account from live-tweeting from the tribunal.
Here, NHS Fife justified its apparent bid to keep the proceedings as far from the public eye as possible by saying there had previously been “a complaint” about Tribunal Tweets’ posts.
However, the board said it wants in-person attendance at the hearings to continue to be allowed.
The Murray Blackburn Mackenzie independent policy analysis collective reacted by accusing NHS Fife of resorting to “a deeply cynical move,” considering that the proceedings are conducted in a venue accessible to only a small number of people.
“(NHS Fife) should be pressing for the technical issues to be resolved instead of seeking to put in place further barriers to open justice,” Lisa Mackenzie said, and referred to the case as an important one that has generated “considerable public interest.”
The collective, Tribunal Tweets, For Women Scotland and Sex Matters have penned a letter to His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), “suggesting improvements to the online viewing system.”
