NHS Fife seeking secret tribunal amid transgender woman changing room row

A Scottish health board is seeking to curb reporting on a landmark case brought about by a nurse who was suspended after she complained about a transgender woman in a female changing room.

NHS Fife has applied for a Rule 50 Order to keep secret the names of those involved in an employment tribunal due to be held in February.

A special hearing will take place next month, with the health board arguing for anonymity for the nurse and the trans woman.

However, the nurse wishes for the tribunal to be held in public.

The nurse has brought the case against the NHS after she was suspended amid accusations of bullying, following complaints about the trans woman getting dressed in a female changing room.

During one incident in December 2023 while the pair were alone in the changing room, the nurse was said to have made reference to the Isla Bryson case in an effort to explain her apprehension.

Bryson, who changed gender while waiting to stand trial, was last year jailed for eight years for raping two women in West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow while known as Adam Graham.

Scottish Prison Service (SPS) guidance at the time saw Bryson initially housed in segregation at Cornton Vale women's prison near Stirling while awaiting sentencing.

Bryson was quickly moved to the male estate following a public outcry, with the scandal engulfing the final weeks of Nicola Sturgeon's premiership as first minister.

The row occurred around the same time the Scottish parliament voted to make it easier for transgender people to change their legally recognised sex.

The controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was ultimately blocked from becoming law by the UK government, with Holyrood since dropping further legal action to contest the overruling.

In this NHS case, the nurse's suspension was lifted earlier this year following intervention by her solicitor.

However, the nurse is claiming health bosses tried to persuade her to return to a different workplace before making attempts to switch her hours.

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Margaret Gribbon, of Bridge Employment Solicitors in Glasgow, is representing the nurse and believes her client's right to female-only spaces under the Equality Act 2010 has been breached.

Ms Gribbon said: "Many other health boards and public sector organisations in Scotland operate similar policies and so the outcome of this case is likely to affect tens of thousands of women.

"The case is therefore of huge public interest and the board's attempts for my client's hearing to be heard in private will be opposed."

NHS Fife said it had a duty of care to all of its staff and "is committed to ensuring a safe and inclusive working environment for all".

A spokesperson for the health board added: "Due to the ongoing legal process, it would be inappropriate for NHS Fife to comment further."

(c) Sky News 2024: NHS Fife seeking secret tribunal amid transgender woman changing room row