Doctor in Ebola scare ‘great worker’
A DOCTOR who misled other medics before Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was struck down with the Ebola virus is “amazing”, a colleague told a tribunal.
Dr Hannah Ryan was one of the first UK medics to travel to Sierra Leone with Ms Cafferkey and other volunteers to undertake dangerous work helping treat victims of the deadly outbreak that killed thousands in West Africa in 2014.
Another volunteer, Dr Sharon Irvine, told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service: “Hannah is amazing. She’s one of the best doctors I have worked with ever.”
But the tribunal has heard when they returned to the UK Dr Ryan took Ms Cafferkey’s temperature while being screened for Ebola and “acquiesced” in not reporting a raised temperature indicative of infection.
Ms Cafferkey was allowed to leave Heathrow Airport but fell seriously ill the next day.
Dr Ryan admits misleading medics from Public Health England (PHE) doing the screening but denies misconduct at the hearing in Manchester.
Dr Ryan took Ms Cafferkey’s temperature as 38.2 centigrade – above the 37.5 C threshold as a warning sign for Ebola infection.
Dr Ryan was in a state of “disbelief, fear and panic” at the raised reading and instead of alerting the PHE medics at Heathrow a lower temperature of 37.2C was given.
Dr Ryan denies writing the 37.2C temperature for Ms Cafferkey on the form handed to PHE screening staff at Heathrow.
Instead she admits she “acquiesced” in the wrong temperature being given.
Dr Ryan’s tribunal continues.