{"id":137318,"date":"2025-09-14T19:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T19:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/137318\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T19:30:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T19:30:23","slug":"nhs-fife-costs-in-sandie-peggie-employment-tribunal-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/137318\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS Fife costs in Sandie Peggie employment tribunal increase"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By the end of August, the legal fees had reached more than \u00a3320,000 \u2013 a rise of \u00a360,000 in the space of a month, according to The Courier<\/a> newspaper.\n<\/p>\n

\n The figure had reached a staggering \u00a3258,821.31<\/a> by the end of June 2025.\n<\/p>\n

\n This additional \u00a360,000 covers the almost 10 days of evidence heard in July.\n<\/p>\n

\n A spokesperson for NHS Fife confirmed that as of August 31, 2025, a total of \u00a3320,436,31 has been incurred in legal costs.\n<\/p>\n

\n It covers the cost of hiring Jane Russell KC, and her legal team, who travel from London to represent the health board at the Dundee<\/a> Tribunal Hearing Centre.\n<\/p>\n

\n A spokesperson for the health board said: “These costs will be reclaimed through the national Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS). Under CNORIS NHS Fife’s financial liability is limited to \u00a325,000, which ensures that the legal proceedings do not impact frontline clinical or patient services.”\n<\/p>\n

\n NHS Fife has previously refused to reveal the figure.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n However, an intervention from the Scottish Information Commissioner led the health board to reveal the cost was \u00a3220,465.93 up to May 2025, rising by around \u00a330,000 a month later.\n<\/p>\n

\n The legal fees are complicated, with NHS Fife technically only liable for \u00a325,000.\n<\/p>\n

\n That is because NHS Fife is a member of the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS).\n<\/p>\n

\n It is a pooling arrangement between Scottish health boards and means the health board will only be required to meet the first \u00a325,000.\n<\/p>\n

\n The remaining bill is covered by the scheme, which is paid for through the Scottish Government<\/a>‘s Health and Social Care Directorate that underwrites the scheme.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ultimately, it is the taxpayer to cover the legal costs of the representation of both Dr Beth Upton and NHS Fife.\n<\/p>\n

\n The case has erupted in recent months and fresh legal action has been threatened.\n<\/p>\n

\n It followed the suspension of Ms Peggie, an experienced A&E nurse, after a confrontation with Dr Upton, a transgender medic, on Christmas Eve 2023 at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy<\/a>, Fife.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Upton ultimately made four complaints about Ms Peggie, including that she misgendered the medic and compared her to Isla Bryson, a convicted rapist who had been placed in the female prison estate.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Two patient safety complaints were also raised – alleging that Ms Peggie left a patient in a resuscitation room when Dr Upton entered, and separately that the nurse refused to engage with Dr Upton about concerns for a child patient.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Peggie was cleared of all four misconduct claims following an investigation by NHS Fife in July, with the health board confirming it had insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations.\n<\/p>\n

\n The employment tribunal, which began in February, is due to resume for further deliberations this autumn, with a final judgment not expected before November.\n<\/p>\n

\n But the dispute could continue, with Ms Peggie’s legal team launching fresh proceedings against senior medics and managers at NHS Fife.\n<\/p>\n

\n The new action relates to evidence heard during the tribunal and also in response to a controversial 1,700 word press statement released by the health board.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Peggie’s solicitor, Margaret Gribbon, said new action was raised on August 6 against Fife Health Board (FHB), Dr Kate Searle, Dr Maggie Currer and Esther Davidson.\n<\/p>\n

\n The latest claim is brought under the Equality Act 2010 and alleges harassment and victimisation linked to Ms Peggie\u2019s gender-critical beliefs.\n<\/p>\n

\n It is separate from her ongoing case against Dr Upton and the health board.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Gribbon added that further claims of harassment and victimisation would also be lodged in the coming months against NHS Fife and \u201cpossibly other\u201d employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the end of August, the legal fees had reached more than \u00a3320,000 \u2013 a rise of \u00a360,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-137318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}