Cafferkey evidence on doc kept secret
EBOLA nurse Pauline Cafferkey’s evidence to a misconduct hearing involving a colleague is to be kept secret.
The Scot made a written statement about Dr Hannah Ryan, who misled doctors about Cafferkey’s condition.
The statement will not be made public.
Ryan flew to Sierra Leone with Cafferkey and other voluteers in 2014 to treat victims of the Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in west Africa.
When they returned to the UK in December 2014, the volunteers had their temperature taken at Heathrow airport to make sure they had no signs of the virus.
Ryan took Cafferkey’s temperature as 38.2C, which should have acted as a warning sign.
But the medical screening team at Heathrow were given a reading of 37.2C.
At a Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing in Manchester, Ryan admitted misleading medics, but denied misconduct.
The MPTS said that as Cafferkey’s evidence was agreed and she would not be cross-examined, she was allowed to submit written evidence.
Only snippets of the statement may be made public in the tribunal’s formal rulings.
An MPTS spokesman said: “She submitted written evidence, which is normal. Witnesses often do.
“The tribunal will have that evidence and I’m sure will reference it. At that point, people will get sight of what’s in that.
“But the statement that is given to the tribunal is not made available.”
Cafferkey, 44, was allowed to fly on to Glasgow from Heathrow after the false reading of her temperature was recorded.
She fell critically ill with Ebola the next day.
Cafferkey recovered but was hospitalised again 10 months later later when she developed serious complications from the virus.
Last September, Cafferkey, of Cambuslang, near Glasgow, was cleared of professional misconduct by a disciplinary panel following a two-day hearing at the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Edinburgh.
She faced charges for allowing a wrong temperature to be recorded at Heathrow.
The panel dismissed the charges after hearing her judgment had been impaired by illness.
The tribunal involving Ryan heard the doctor “acquiesced” in not reporting Cafferkey’s correct temperature.
Ryan’s lawyer Richard Both QC, suggested it was another medic, nurse Donna Wood, who submitted the false reading.
Wood denies that allegation.
The inquiry continues.