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.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies was among those to raise concerns when she questioned whether the measures should be “more precautionary”.

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”.

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.

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)

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.

“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?”

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.

“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.

“The rooms were very small, the staff were small in number and seemed inadequately prepared.”

Dr Deahl said they were to be given thermometers and a kit to check their temperatures every day for the next three weeks.

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.”

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.

In pictures: Ebola virus Show all 62 1 /62 In pictures: Ebola virus In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A health worker from Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 carries the corpse of a child in Freetown In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A health workers from the Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 is sprayed with desinfectant after removing a corpse from a house in Freetown In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Health workers from Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 prepare to remove a body from a house in Freetown AFP In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Health workers from the Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 place a body in a grave at King Tom cemetary in Freetown In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Mustapha Rogers of the Red Cross talks as health workers from the Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 remove a corpse from a house in Freetown In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A citizen from Mali arrives at a hospital in Murcia city, south-eastern Spain. The protocol for a possible case of Ebola has been activated as the man, who arrived from Mali to Jumilla town in Murcia province five days ago, presents clinical symptoms of high fever and vomiting EPA In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Kenyan medical workers show how to handle an infected Ebola patient on a portable negative pressure bed at the Kenyatta national hospital in Nairobi Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A health worker sprays disinfectant onto a college in Monrovia, Liberia AP In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A burial team in protective gear bury the body of a woman suspected to have died from Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Healthcare workers in protective gear work at an Ebola treatment center in the west of Freetown, Sierra Leone AP Photo/Michael Duff In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A healthcare worker in protective gear is sprayed with disinfectant after working in an Ebola treatment center in the west 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who died of Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A woman crawls towards the body of her sister as Ebola burial team members take her sister Mekie Nagbe (28) for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Sophia Doe sits with her grandchildren Beauty Mandi, 9 months (L) and Arthuneh Qunoh, 9, (R), while watching the arrival an Ebola burial team to take away the body of her daughter Mekie Nagbe, 28, for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Varney Jonson (46) grieves as an Ebola burial team takes away the body of his wife Nama Fambule for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Family members grieve as Ebola burial team members prepare to remove the body of Nama Fambule for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A Liberian burial squad carry the body of an Ebola victim in Marshall, Margini county, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman (54) from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus An Ebola burial team carries the body of a woman (54) through the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman (54) from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Health workers in protective gear carry the body of a woman suspected to have died from Ebola virus, from a house in New Kru Town at the outskirt of Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Volunteers in protective suit bury the body of a person who died from Ebola in Waterloo, some 30 kilometers southeast of Freetown FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Nowa Paye (9) is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of the Ebola infection in the village of Freeman Reserve, about 30 miles north of Monrovia, Liberia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Medical staff members burn clothes belonging to patients suffering from Ebola, at the French medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Monrovia PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A medical staff member wearing a protective suit walks past the crematorium where victims of Ebola are burned in Monrovia In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A Liberian burial team wearing protective clothing loads the body of a 60-year-old Ebola victim after retrieving him from his home Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Sick women rest while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center near Monrovia, Liberia Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Hanah Siafa walks in the rain with her children Josephine, 10, and Elija, six, while waiting to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus UNICEF health workers walk through the streets, going house to house to speak about Ebola prevention in New Kru Town, Liberia. The virus has killed more than 1,000 people in four African countries Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Local residents watch as public health advocates stage an Ebola awareness and prevention event in Monrovia, Liberia Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Public health advocates stage an Ebola awareness and prevention event in Monrovia, Liberia. The Liberian government and international groups are trying to convince residents of the danger and are urging people to wash their hands to help prevent the spread of the epidemic Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Hanah Siafa lies with her children Josephine, 10, and Elija, six, while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A health worker examines patients for Ebola inside a screening tent, at the Kenema Government Hospital AP In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A health worker cleans his hands with chlorinated water before entering an Ebola screening tent at the Kenema Government Hospital, about 86 miles from Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown AP In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Aid workers and doctors transfer Miguel Pajares, a Spanish priest who was infected with the Ebola virus while working in Liberia, from a plane to an ambulance as he leaves the Torrejon de Ardoz military airbase, near Madrid, Spain AP Photo/Spanish Defense Ministry In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A Liberian money exchanger washes hands between customers as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus while conducting business in downtown Monrovia, Liberia EPA In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A Liberian health worker sprays disinfectant on a drivers boots to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus at the Christian charity Samaritan Purse head offices in Monrovia, Liberia. Over 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 making it the world's deadliest outbreak to date according to statistics from the World Health Organisation EPA In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A Liberian taxi driver wears protective gloves as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus whilst driving in downtown Monrovia, Liberia. Many Liberians have taken to wearing gloves and washing hands after every interaction in an attempt to curb the spread of the deadly virus EPA In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A Liberian money exchanger wears protective gloves as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus while transacting business with customers in downtown Monrovia, Liberia EPA In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A woman from Liberia takes food to a sick relative in the Ebola isolation unit at the ELWA Hospital where US doctor Kent Bradley is being quarantined having contracted the Ebola virus. 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The Liberian government and International partners have warned people to not eat it. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that a total of 888 Ebola cases including 539 deaths have been recorded in West Africa since February AFP In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus People unload protection and healthcare material at Conakry's airport, to help fight the spread of the Ebola virus and treat people who have been already infected AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Body of evidence: health workers transport a casket of a nun whose death resulted from an Ebola infection in Zaire in 1995 Getty In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Peter Piot in Yambuku, northern Congo (then Zaire), in 1976, where he was part of the original team to discover the Ebola virus J Breman In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus A member of Doctors Without Borders helps to unload protection and healthcare materials in Guinea Getty In pictures: Ebola virus Ebola virus Doctors in protective gear work inside the Medecins Sans Frontieres isolation ward as Guinea faced the worst ever outbreak of the Ebola virus Getty Images

“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.



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.

David Cameron chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee today on Ebola.