Sandie Peggie has told a tribunal she felt like her union took the side of a trans doctor using female changing rooms and did nothing to find out what other staff thought about the situation.

The NHS nurse is at the centre of a landmark employment tribunal as she sues the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), accusing it of discriminating against her because of her gender critical beliefs.

The 53-year-old, who arrived at Dundee’s tribunal centre hand-in-hand with her husband Darren and supported by campaigners, was the first to give evidence in what is the latest chapter in the long-running legal saga.

Mother-of-two Mrs Peggie said she had ‘lost faith’ in the nursing union which had failed her from the ‘outset’.

And Employment Judge Melanie Sangster, who is set to preside over the high-profile tribunal for its expected seven-day run, was told by the nurse she felt like she was ‘not supported’ and ‘people were taking the doctor’s side rather than mine’.

In August 2023, NHS Fife allowed Dr Upton, a resident doctor, to use the female-only changing room in the accident and emergency department of Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy.

After two encounters with the trans medic on Christmas Eve the same year there was a confrontation between the two and Mrs Peggie was suspended.

The following March, a meeting to review the suspension was arranged with NHS Fife staff at Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, along with union representative Stuart Fraser.

Mrs Peggie was told her suspension would be lifted, but that she should work in another area. She refused the request.

She told the tribunal: ‘When we came out Stuart had also asked if it would be possible for me to move somewhere else.

‘At that time I felt like he was pushing for me to change into another department as well.

‘[It made me feel] not supported. I feel like people were taking the doctor’s side rather than mine.’

Dr Upton, a biological male who now identifies as female, had been given permission to use the women-only rooms upon starting at the hospital.

The tribunal was told other members of the staff were unhappy, but there had been no consultation about the arrangement.

Mrs Peggie said: ‘Dr Upton had started as a junior doctor in the department. I was made aware he was a transwoman, I was also made aware he was using the female changing areas.

‘It was general chit chat in the department where people were talking about him using the area and a lot of staff didn’t want him, they were uncomfortable with him being in as well as myself.’

Naomi Cunningham, the high profile employment lawyer representing Mrs Peggie, asked if Mrs Peggie was ‘aware of any consultation between management and female staff or the trade union before Dr Upton started working in the department’.

Mrs Peggie said: ‘There wasn’t any.’

Last year, the nurse became a household name amid her first high-profile employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Upton.

She secured a partial victory, which upheld claims of harassment from NHS Fife but dropped her other claims. She is now appealing.

Probed why she had no colleagues giving evidence in her defence at the previous tribunal, Mrs Peggie said: ‘I think possibly it was fear.

‘They have seen the way I had been treated from the hospital, from senior staff members.’

Mrs Peggie, who has been absent from work since December 2024, told the tribunal:‘It was quite important to me that there weren’t any men going into the women’s changing area.

‘As far as I am led to believe, the RCN didn’t push Fife Health Board at all to try and stop men going into the female changing areas.’

The RCN is being represented by David Hay KC, the lawyer who defended Edinburgh Rape Crisis when it was sued by worker Roz Adams, driven out of her job for expressing gender critical views.

Mrs Peggie, in cross examination, told the tribunal she did not ask her trade union for legal advice during her suspension because she had ‘lost faith’.

And the hearing was told that in a March 2025 letter the NHS nurse claimed the RCN had failed her from the ‘outset’.

In part of her evidence Mrs Peggie said RCN representative Gillian Tait had only contacted her ‘two or three’ times and that there ‘doesn’t seem to be any push from the RCN to try and get Fife Health Board to do anything about the changing room situation’.

But Mr Hay said Ms Tait had, between June and December 2025, contacted Mrs Peggie on several occasions to talk about the case and was pushing the issue with the board.

He said: ‘On at least 11 occasions as part of Ms Tait’s email correspondence she either offered or suggested having a chat of a meeting to talk through the case.’

Mrs Peggie did not speak with the RCN rep, the tribunal heard, with communications only going through a solicitor.

Mr Hay told the tribunal Ms Tait had told NHS Fife it was ‘imperative’ Mrs Peggie had assurances about single sex access to changing rooms before returning to work ‘particularly given her prior treatment by the board’.

Mrs Peggie said she did not steer the RCN towards anyone who supported her view transgender staff should not use the facilities of their desired gender because of fear of reprisals.

She said: ‘I didn’t want to mention anyone’s names. It’s quite a toxic environment, and after I had been suspended I didn’t want to put anybody else in that position. And I think that’s why they wouldn’t have come forward either.’

Former MP Neale Hanvey, who was the member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, also gave evidence.

Although not her constituency MP he supported Mrs Peggie, and told how when he met her she seemed ‘quite distressed’ in the weeks after the changing room incident.

The former Alba Party deputy leader said: ‘It was my feeling at the time that the RCN were not responding in a way I would have expected a union to support a member who was facing that kind of complex difficulty in the workplace.’

The tribunal continues.