The Claimant was a nurse who was dismissed by reason of gross misconduct after a third serious Patient Safety Incident (PSI). The ET found that her dismissal was unfair because the inclusion of details about the first two such incidents (which had not been treated as disciplinary matters) in an investigative report prepared for use by the dismissing officer fell foul of the " reasonable investigation" requirement in British Home Stores v Burchell 1980 ICR 303. The Respondent appealed.

The EAT allowed the appeal. The Tribunal erred in concluding that the inclusion of the first two incidents in the report of itself rendered the dismissal unfair. That was not a conclusion it was entitled to reach on the unchallenged findings in fact. Separation of the procedural argument from the substantive reason for dismissal resulted in the Tribunal omitting to consider its own finding that the decision to dismiss was within the band of reasonable responses in deciding whether the identified procedural defects were sufficiently serious as to render the whole process unfair.