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Ebola in UK: Doctor who flew home with sick nurse sounds alarm over 'disorganised' UK screening Ebola in UK: Doctor who flew home with sick nurse sounds alarm over 'disorganised' UK screening
(about 1 hour later)
The screening process for the deadly Ebola virus at Britain’s airports is to be reviewed after a doctor who travelled back to the UK with the Scottish nurse suffering from the disease described staff as “disorganised” and “inadequately prepared”. Serious doubts about Britain’s screening measures for Ebola have been raised by the revelation that  British nurse Pauline Cafferkey was cleared to fly home to Glasgow after telling medics at Heathrow she feared she had symptoms of the disease.
Dr Martin Deahl sat next to Pauline Cafferkey on a flight to Heathrow as they returned from five weeks tackling Ebola in Sierra Leone. Mrs Cafferkey, a 39-year-old public health nurse, became ill on her return to Glasgow and was last night receiving specialist treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in north London. Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies was among those to raise concerns when she questioned whether the measures should be “more precautionary”.
Dr Deahl, who was among a group of 30 NHS volunteers helping with the fight against Ebola, which has so far killed more than 7,800 people, questioned the effectiveness of the screening process at Britain’s largest airport. Dr Martin Deahl, a doctor who sat next to Nurse Cafferkey on the flight into Britain after five weeks treating Ebola victims in Sierra Leone, described the screening system as “disorganised” and staff as “inadequately prepared”.
“We were identified as having come from Sierra Leone and escorted by a Border Agency officer to a suite of rooms just off that arrivals hall and where we waited to have our so-called health check,” he told Sky News. Public Health England (PHE) said its procedures would be reviewed after it was revealed Ms Cafferkey informed medics on arrival at Heathrow she was worried she had the disease but was then cleared to join a British Airways flight to Glasgow.
“The rooms were very small, the staff were small in number and seemed inadequately prepared, and the thermometers and the kit that we were given to check our own temperatures every day for the next three weeks, they basically ran out so half of us didn’t get that kit. Mine is supposed to be couriered over today. That bit of it did seem disorganised.” While waiting for a connecting flight to Glasgow she raised fears about her condition and was tested a further six times in the space of 30 minutes. She is now being treated in a specialist unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Pauline Cafferkey, the South Lanarkshire nurse who has caught Ebola after volunteering to serve in Sierra Leone (EPA) He also questioned Public Health England’s current guidance on Ebola, which allows health workers who have been in direct contact with patients suffering from the virus to use public transport to get home from the airport – but also advises them to avoid crowded places for 21 days afterwards. Pauline Cafferkey, the South Lanarkshire nurse who has caught Ebola after volunteering to serve in Sierra Leone (EPA) Dame Sally said: “She was cleared to travel because she didn’t have Ebola symptoms including a raised temperature. It does raise a question whether we should be more precautionary. The risk of raised temperature when she came back appears to have been very low.
In response, PHE defended its safety procedures for returning healthcare workers, pointing out that they were similar to those used by other organisations sending volunteers to fight Ebola. But it added that it would be reviewing the screening system. “That’s why we look at what we do all the time to see should we have been more precautionary, is it in the public’s interest? Is it in the patient’s interest?”
Pauline Cafferkey is wheeled in a quarantine tent trolley onto a plane at Glasgow International Airport (Getty) “The Scottish patient was on the returning worker scheme and was screened at Heathrow airport on arrival, in line with standard procedures,” it said in a statement. “At this point they were assessed as per protocol and cleared to travel home. This process was overseen by a medical consultant. She added that she doubted it would “have made much difference” but concerns about the screening deepened as Dr Deahl questioned the effectiveness of Heathrow’s screening process.
“Naturally, we are keen to learn whatever we can from the emerging details of this case and will be reviewing what happened and the screening protocols, to see if anything needs to be changed.” “We were identified as having come from Sierra Leone and escorted by a Border Agency officer to a suite of rooms just off the arrivals hall,” he told Sky News. “We waited to have our so-called health check.
Mrs Cafferkey, who volunteered to work for Save the Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, will be offered blood plasma donated by patients who have survived the disease – including William Pooley, the British nurse who recovered from Ebola earlier this year. It is hoped that natural antibodies in the blood will help her fight the virus. “The rooms were very small, the staff were small in number and seemed inadequately prepared.”
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, said yesterday that Mrs Cafferkey was “doing as well as can be expected in the circumstances” but added that she would not be providing a running commentary of her progress. She stressed that the risk to the general public remained Ebola was “negligible”. Pauline Cafferkey is wheeled in a quarantine tent trolley onto a plane at Glasgow International Airport (Getty) Dr Deahl said they were to be given thermometers and a kit to check their temperatures every day for the next three weeks.
The convoy carrying Pauline Cafferkey arrives at The Royal Free hospital in London (Getty) All but seven of the 70 passengers who shared Mrs Cafferkey’s flight from London to Glasgow have now been contacted, she added. Five of the eight people who sat nearest the nurse on the plane have been reached, with messages left for the other three. However, they ran out of the equipment, “so half of us didn’t get that kit”, he said. “Mine is supposed to be couriered over today. That bit of it did seem disorganised.”
Two other people in the UK are currently being tested for Ebola. One is a female healthcare worker who recently returned from a country affected by the outbreak, although she is not thought to have had any direct contact with patients suffering from the disease. He also questioned Public Health England (PHE) guidance on Ebola.
Health workers who have been in direct contact with patients suffering from the virus are allowed to use public transport to get home from the airport. But they are advised to avoid crowded places for 21 days afterwards.
In response, PHE defended its safety procedures for returning healthcare workers, pointing out that they were similar to those used by other organisations sending volunteers to fight Ebola.
It said it would review the screening system.
“The Scottish patient was on the returning worker scheme and was screened at Heathrow airport on arrival, in line with standard procedures,” it said in a statement. “At this point they were assessed as per protocol and cleared to travel home. This process was overseen by a medical consultant.
“Naturally, we are keen to learn whatever we can from the emerging details of this case.”
Ms Cafferkey, who volunteered to work for Save the Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, will be offered blood plasma from patients who have survived the disease – including William Pooley, the British nurse who survived Ebola earlier this year.
It is hoped that natural antibodies in the blood will help her fight the virus.
The convoy carrying Pauline Cafferkey arrives at The Royal Free hospital in London (Getty) Ms Cafferkey is the second Briton to test positive and the first to do so on UK soil after nurse Mr Pooley, 29, contracted Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone in August.
She was part of a 30-strong team of medical volunteers deployed to Africa by the UK Government last month and had been working with Save the Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone.
The healthcare worker had flown from Sierra Leone via Morocco to Heathrow Airport where she was considered a high risk because of the nature of her work and showed no symptoms during screening and a temperature check.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, said that Ms Cafferkey was “doing as well as can be expected in the circumstances” but said she would not be providing a running commentary of her progress. She stressed that the risk to the general public remained “negligible”.
All but seven of the 70 passengers who shared Ms Cafferkey’s flight from London to Glasgow have now been contacted, she added.
Five of the eight people who sat near the nurse on the plane have been reached, with messages left for the other three.
Health Protection England and Health Protection Scotland are continuing to trace passengers on the flights Mrs Cafferkey took back to Heathrow via Casablanca in Morocco and her onward journey to Glasgow Airport, where she arrived at about 11.30pm on Sunday on a British Airways flight.
Dr Paul Cosford, head of the Health Protection Agency, said around a third of the 133 passengers on board the flight between Morocco and the UK have been contacted while messages have been given to more than half of the 72 travelling between Heathrow and Glasgow.
Two other people in Britain are being tested for Ebola. One is a female healthcare worker who recently returned from a country affected by the outbreak, although she is not thought to have had any direct contact with patients suffering from the disease.
Another possible case was reported in Cornwall, where a patient has been placed in isolation at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. It is understood that they also recently returned from west Africa.Another possible case was reported in Cornwall, where a patient has been placed in isolation at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. It is understood that they also recently returned from west Africa.
David Cameron chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee yesterday on the issue of Ebola. A spokesman said the Prime Minister had been “reassured that the robust and well-practised procedures…were being followed and that the risk to the general public remained very low”. David Cameron chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee today on Ebola.
A spokesman said the Prime Minister was “reassured that the robust procedures were being followed”.