Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the introduction of enhanced screening arrangements for ebola at the United Kingdom’s main ports of entry for people travelling from the affected regions, what advice they have received from the Chief Medical Inspector about arrangements at ports of entry for quarantining suspected ebola patients and for providing trained staff and equipment to move those patients to isolation units in hospitals.

Public Health England (PHE) is leading on arrangements for enhanced screening for Ebola which is being rolled out at Heathrow, Gatwick and St Pancras (Eurostar), and Birmingham and Manchester airports thereafter. This screening will be for passengers that Border Force officers identify as having travelled from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia or for those passengers who identify themselves to staff.

Screening is being implemented by PHE staff, who follow official protocols. PHE has issued guidance to its staff and for professionals across other sectors, about how to deal with a suspected case of Ebola. There are established and tested procedures for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases to hospitals when required.