Two nurses supported by the Christian Legal Centre will give evidence during Sandie Peggie’s case against the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) as the employment tribunal hearing begins in Dundee today, Wednesday 23 September.
Sandie Peggie, a nurse and member of the Royal College of Nursing for around 30 years, alleges that the union discriminated against her because of her gender-critical beliefs by refusing to provide adequate advice, support or legal representation after she was suspended by NHS Fife for objecting to a transgender doctor’s use of a female changing room.
The RCN is the world’s biggest nursing union.
Bethany Hutchison, president of the Darlington Nursing Union, and Jennifer Melle, a senior Christian nurse recently cleared of all allegations against her by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, have been called as witnesses in the case.
Both are expected to give evidence about their experiences of seeking support from the RCN after becoming embroiled in disputes involving biological sex, Christian and gender-critical beliefs, and the treatment of nurses who raise concerns about gender identity policies.
Ahead of the hearing, Sandie Peggie said: “I never wanted to be in a position where I was suing my own trade union. Whilst this is regrettable, it is a legal battle which is necessary in order to highlight the extent to which gender ideology has taken hold of the RCN and has been used to silence and malign members standing up for women’s hard fought sex based rights.
“I face this next legal ordeal a little less daunted and truly humbled in the knowledge that my witnesses will include fellow RCN members, Darlington Nurse, Bethany Hutchison, and Jennifer Melle. I am so very grateful to them and the other witnesses who have generously given their time and assistance to my legal team.”
RCN treated Christian nurse like a ‘pariah’
Mrs Hutchison’s evidence will include how the RCN warned that her NHS trust was breaching workplace law by failing to provide single-sex changing facilities, but allegedly failed to take effective action when the trust did not comply.
She claims the RCN’s adoption of gender-identity beliefs left it unwilling or unable to recognise her concerns about single-sex facilities, effectively abandoning her during disciplinary proceedings and her legal action against the trust.
Jennifer Melle will give evidence about her experience of seeking support from the RCN after she faced disciplinary and regulatory proceedings following an incident involving a biologically male prisoner who identified as a woman.
Ms Melle, a Band 6 registered nurse and a Christian with more than a decade of experience, was subjected to serious racist abuse and threats of violence by the patient during a night shift in May 2024.
The patient objected after overhearing Ms Melle use male pronouns during a clinical discussion with a doctor concerning the patient’s discharge. Ms Melle maintained that accurate sex-based language was necessary in the fast-moving clinical context and that she could not use language she regarded as untrue and contrary to her Christian beliefs.
Despite being the victim of the abuse, Ms Melle was investigated by Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, given a final written warning and referred to the NMC over concerns about her fitness to practise.
After she spoke publicly about her treatment, Ms Melle was suspended by the trust and referred to the NMC for a second time over an alleged breach of patient confidentiality.
The trust abandoned its disciplinary proceedings against Ms Melle in January 2026 and reinstated her. The two NMC cases, however, continued until the regulator confirmed in a decision dated 1 July 2026 that there was “no case” for her to answer and that no further action would be taken.
The NMC found there was no evidence that Ms Melle had breached patient confidentiality, noting that the limited information she disclosed had not resulted in the patient being identified.
It also accepted that the pronoun incident was isolated, was not malicious and arose from Ms Melle’s protected Christian beliefs rather than any desire to harass or bully the patient.
The regulator concluded that Ms Melle presented no current risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of the public, that no restrictions on her nursing practice were required and that there was no realistic possibility that her fitness to practise would be found impaired.
Ms Melle remains employed by the trust, which confirmed that there had been no further concerns about her nursing practice or the way she treats patients.
She is expected to tell the tribunal about the assistance she sought from the RCN throughout her ordeal and the union’s response as she faced the possibility of losing her career.
Ms Melle has said that, despite paying membership fees for 12 years, she felt abandoned by the RCN when she needed its support and treated as a “pariah” because of her Christian and gender-critical beliefs.
The RCN also told her to do a ‘reflection’ to ensue the incident did not happen again.
Her experience is expected to form part of the evidence concerning whether the treatment alleged by Ms Peggie reflects a wider failure by the RCN to represent members fairly when disputes involve biological sex and gender identity.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said:
“The evidence of Bethany Hutchison and Jennifer Melle will show why Sandie Peggie’s case matters to nurses across the country.
“Jennifer has now been completely vindicated. The NHS trust abandoned its disciplinary case against her, reinstated her and the NMC concluded that there was no case for her to answer. The regulator found that she posed no risk to the public, that there was no evidence of a confidentiality breach and that the pronoun incident arose from her protected Christian beliefs rather than any malicious intent.
“Yet Jennifer was still forced to endure disciplinary and regulatory proceedings which threatened her career and livelihood. When she turned to the professional body to which she had paid membership fees for 12 years, she says she was left feeling abandoned.
“Bethany and the Darlington nurses have likewise had to fight for the basic privacy, dignity and safety of women at work, while seeking meaningful support from the RCN.
“These are dedicated and compassionate nurses who expected their professional body to defend them without fear or favour. Their experiences raise serious questions about whether the RCN has placed adherence to gender identity ideology above its duty to represent members who hold entirely lawful and protected beliefs.
“A trade union should not abandon members because their understanding of sex and the human body conflicts with a fashionable institutional orthodoxy. Nor should nurses be required to deny biological reality, surrender their privacy or compromise their Christian beliefs to remain within the profession they love.
“This case is an opportunity to establish that professional bodies must represent all their members fairly. Nurses who speak truthfully and respectfully about biological sex deserve the same protection, support and representation as anyone else.”