The Claimant, a black African consultant orthopaedic surgeon, was dismissed and his claims of unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of race were all dismissed by the ET. The Claimant applied to have the decision reconsidered after the GMC issued a determination that his case was closed with no action on the basis that the evidence did not support a conclusion that his conduct or practice was likely to result in a finding of impaired fitness to practice. The ET refused the reconsideration application and the Claimant appealed against this refusal and the original ET decision.

The EAT dismissed the unfair dismissal appeal, saying that the Respondent's reliance upon a pattern of conduct giving rise to concerns about patient safety as a sufficient reason to dismiss was within the range of reasonable responses notwithstanding the fact that there was no single act that could be said to amount to gross misconduct. The discrimination appeal was also dismissed as the EAT found that the ET's approach was not fragmentary as was apparent from a fair reading of the whole judgment. The decision in relation to wrongful dismissal, however, was found to be wrong as the ET failed to make the necessary findings of fact for itself to establish that the Claimant's conduct amounted to a repudiatory breach.