NHS Fife has spent more than £220,000 defending itself in the employment tribunal launched by nurse Sandie Peggie, it has been revealed.
The extent of the costs was uncovered following an intervention by Scotland’s information commissioner, who ruled that the health board had failed to comply with freedom of information requests.
Up to the end of March, a total of £220,465.93 was spent on the case, including counsel fees and services from the NHS Scotland’s central legal office.
Ms Peggie brought the case against the health board after her complaint about sharing a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton led to her being suspended.
The nurse lodged a complaint of sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected belief under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010.
Information Commissioner David Hamilton said NHS Fife should carry out searches for data on the costs of the case, describing the situation as “frustrating” when freedom of information requests were appealed.
In its response to the requests, 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 £25,000, which ensures that the legal proceedings do not impact frontline clinical or patient services.
“NHS Fife is not in a position to estimate the full cost of proceedings while the tribunal remains ongoing.”
Ms Peggie has publicly welcomed the UK Supreme Court judgment which in April made clear the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
She said that she “expects NHS Fife to immediately stop permitting any man who identifies as a woman access to female-only, single-sex spaces in the workplace”.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of the gender critical campaign group, Sex Matters, which is supporting the nurse, told The Herald newspaper: “That NHS Fife has already run up £220,000 in legal costs to date is outrageous, but also unsurprising given the determination of so many employers to defend policies that permit trans-identifying men like Dr Upton to use women’s facilities, even though the law is clear that female employees have the right to male-free facilities.”
Conservative MSP Tess White said the costs had been released in a “sleekit” way.
She said: “They have spent months rejecting legitimate requests to reveal how much taxpayers’ money they are squandering on this case, only to try and slip it out in the hope nobody will see it.
“The sum spent so far taking Sandie Peggie to a tribunal could have gone to frontline healthcare services which are overwhelmed due to 18 years of SNP mismanagement.
“Senior figures within the health board must come clean about why this figure was not revealed sooner and how much more money from the public purse they expect to waste when the case resumes.”
A spokesperson for the health board said: “NHS Fife notes the report from the Scottish Information Commissioner, published on July 9, and will comply fully with the decision notice.
“The costs to date associated with the defence of the employment tribunal, brought against NHS Fife by Sandie Peggie have been made publicly available on the NHS Fife website.”
The spokesperson added: “NHS Fife sought a Rule 50 order to protect the confidentiality of sensitive personal information of staff involved in the tribunal process.
“As a public sector organisation, NHS Fife has a duty of care to all its staff with consideration given to protecting their privacy, safety, security and wellbeing.
“The decision to apply for the order was made following legal advice and in line with the reasons outlined above.”
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