Doctor Beth Upton said she felt “unsafe” following an incident at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, during which she was asked by a nurse about her chromosomes
A transgender doctor was left feeling “upset and afraid” after she was told by a nurse she couldn’t use the women’s changing rooms and inappropriately quizzed about her chromosomes, a tribunal has heard.
Dr Beth Upton, who was born a man but now identifies as female, said the incident happened at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in Scotland, in 2023.
The nurse has taken the doctor and a local health board to tribunal, after she was suspended following the 2023 incident. She claimed unlawful harassment, but Dr Upton said that, during the Christmas Eve incident, Ms Peggie had bullied her for being trans by making “hurtful and demeaning” remarks, leaving her feeling “unsafe”.
The doctor said she felt the nurse compared her to a transgender rapist and had told the doctor “as a man [Dr Upton] couldn’t be in the changing room”, despite NHS managers having agreed that she could use the women’s facilities. Dr Upton said: “As she understood it as my identity is as a woman, that was enough, that I should use the women’s changing facilities.”
The tribunal heard that Dr Upton, who began her gender transition in January 2022 and uses she/her pronouns, has been “fully out in all aspects of my life”, but was told by Ms Peggie that “a man couldn’t be in the changing room”. The incident was the third of three during which Dr Upton said Ms Peggie, noticing her, left the women’s changing room and stood outside.
The doctor said she believed the nurse had left the changing room as she objected to sharing it with a trans woman. During the Christmas Eve incident, Dr Upton told the tribunal Ms Peggie started a conversation when they were alone in the changing room. Dr Upton said Ms Peggie had “asked me what my chromosomes were”, and indicated other hospital staff were uncomfortable with her using the female changing room.
She said the nurse’s questions were “hurtful and demeaning”, adding: “It was deeply uncomfortable and upsetting to have somebody saying such unpleasant and accusatory things to you. I felt unsafe and upset.” Dr Upton said the incident on Christmas Eve made her “anxious and nervous” about being at work in case she ran into Ms Peggie.
She told the tribunal she was left feeling “really distressed, really awful”, adding: “I’ve never had somebody say things like that to me before.” Dr Upton said she apologised to the nurse for how she was feeling but told her “as a woman I’m allowed to use these changing rooms”, and said if Ms Peggie had a problem with that she should raise it formally.
She continued: “She repeated that I can’t be in this room and that I’m not a woman, that it’s not safe, that she understood I was going through some sort of process but as a man I couldn’t be in the changing room. I responded to her that I’m not a man and that I can be in this changing room.”
Ms Peggie argued during the tribunal that sharing the changing room with Dr Upton amounted to unlawful harassment under under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 and has claimed indirect harassment; victimisation; and whistleblowing following her January 2024 suspension.
On Thursday, Ms Peggie’s mother Sheila Bell told the tribunal that, following the incident on Christmas Day 2023, her daughter did not seem herself. Ms Bell said their relationship was “very, very close” and she recalled arriving at her daughter’s home at 2pm before the family exchanged presents and then had Christmas lunch around 3pm.
She told the tribunal Ms Peggie “didn’t want to talk about it on Christmas Day”. Ms Bell misgendered Dr Upton multiple times while delivering testimony, referring to the female doctor as a “he” while stating her daughter “had to go into a changing room the night before” when Dr Upton was changing. She claimed seeing the doctor left her daughter feeling “uncomfortable and embarrassed”.
Ms Bell added that Dr Upton was “on the defence” after Ms Peggie said she felt “uncomfortable and embarrassed”, and the doctor insisted she “had every right to be there”. Dr Upton said that nurse Peggie’s conduct with her also impacted her ability to perform her job with patients.
She said that, on one earlier occasion on December 18, 2023, Ms Peggie had refused to acknowledge or look at the doctor while discussing a young patient. Dr Upton said: “You need to be able to talk to each other, to communicate with each other. You need to be able to rely on the people in your team. It makes doing my job very difficult and impacts the patient’s overall care.”
The tribunal continues.
