Sandie Peggie’s legal team has asked for a forensic examination of Dr Beth Upton’s phone before the employment tribunal resumes amid the row over changing rooms.
The veteran nurse, who worked at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital, is suing NHS Fife and the transgender medic after she was suspended following a row between the pair on Christmas Eve 2023
It emerged on Friday that proceedings are likely to continue on July 16, with Ms Peggie’s lawyers awaiting evidence from Dr Upton and the health board, the Scottish Daily Express reports.
The nurse’s barrister, Naomi Cunningham, also asked for a forensic examination of the doctor’s phone to be carried out.
The tribunal in Dundee previously heard that Dr Upton had made notes on his phone recording his interactions with Ms Peggie, including a record of the days she was using the female changing rooms.
On February 6, the medic described an encounter with Ms Peggie in August 2024 – just a few days after he started working for NHS Fife on August 2. Although he self-identifies as a woman, Dr Upton has not legally changed his gender and the tribunal judge ruled he can be referred to as a man.
He said Ms Peggie entered the female changing room and they exchanged greetings, before describing a “weird” incident. Tribunal Tweets, which has been recording the evidence, wrote: “Saw her standing outside, recorded a note on my phone, impression was she was uncomfortable being with me.”
On February 12, he again referred to his “phone notes” and confirmed that NHS Fife managers had not asked to see them or for a copy of them to be provided during the internal investigation.
On the same day, Dr Upton told Ms Cunningham that his last phone note was written on December 28. She asked if they were still on his phone or if they had been deleted. He replied: “I don’t intend to.”
The forensic examination request led to a flurry of informed speculation on social media, as well as some scurrilous suggestions that the phone might somehow end up lost or missing.
Insurance law specialist Colin Wynter KC said: “If Upton’s phone were to go missing, he and Fife will lose. Naomi’s team will by now have asked for confirmation that the phone is currently in existence and undamaged and that it be kept safe until the request is determined. That way, if it somehow comes to be ‘lost’, game over.”