NHS Fife attempted to keep internal conversations about its controversial, 1,700-word statement on the Sandie Peggie tribunal secret.

The Courier has secured a major transparency victory against health board bosses who sought to keep the public in the dark.

In July 2025, we asked the health board for internal correspondence relating to its controversial public statement on the high-profile Sandie Peggie case.

The statement descended into chaos within minutes. Ms Peggie’s legal team and the charity Sex Matters demanded changes. A raft of edits followed and the NHS Fife website crashed.

The fallout was severe. Local politicians condemned the health board, while staff described the handling as “disastrous” and said it had destroyed their confidence in then chief executive Carol Potter.

Yet within weeks of our request, NHS Fife refused to disclose the internal discussions behind the 1,700-word statement. It upheld that decision when we sought a review.

More extraordinarily, it had not even attempted to identify the relevant information before refusing our request.

The Courier has taken no side in the tribunal or the wider, often heated debate over the rights of women to single-sex spaces and the rights of transgender people.

Our responsibility has been to scrutinise the public institutions that matter to our readers and demand accountability when those entrusted........

© The Courier