Scotland’s response to the Sandie Peggie judgment shows a public no longer willing to accept defensiveness, secrecy or delay from its public bodies — and NHS Fife now faces a test of trust it cannot afford to fail, says Fiona Higgins

The employment tribunal ruling this week - that NHS Fife harassed nurse Sandie Peggie - did not land quietly. Within an hour, thousands of posts were surging across social media saying I Stand With Sandie Peggie and I Am Sandie Peggie. For a moment it felt as if Scotland had stopped to react: mostly in celebration, but with a palpable distrust of NHS Fife and a growing sense that fairness had been lost. The Scottish public appears increasingly protective of Sandie Peggie, and that reaction is now part of the story.

As someone in public life who works with governance and accountability, I see the Peggie case as more than one individual ordeal. It has become a test of whether our public bodies are living up to the standards expected of them. And the clearest lens through which to understand what went wrong - and why the public response has been so strong - is the Nolan Principles of Public Life.

From early on, the public sensed an imbalance: a single nurse on one side, and on the other a large institution drawing on external HR specialists, senior employment lawyers, and a KC from outwith Scotland. Legal expenditure has now exceeded £400,000,........

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