Heathrow Ebola checks 'shambolic', says Shropshire doctor

Miss Cafferkey was allowed to fly on to Scotland, where she was taken ill. Dr Martin Deahl, 58, of Newport, today said he was surprised the team had been allowed to go home on public transport after landing on Sunday.

Dame Sally Davies said the NHS remains "well prepared" for the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 7,000 lives across west Africa.

Dame Sally said: "The risk of the general public in this country catching Ebola remains very low. However, we still estimate that there could be a handful of cases in this country over the coming months.

"The NHS is very well prepared for Ebola and the requirement for screening at selected ports of entry is being kept continually under review."

The high level isolation unit at the London's Royal Free Hospital forms the UK's main weapon in the fight to contain and treat Ebola infections in this country.

A dedicated department designed to treat dangerous infections, it is run by doctors, nurses and laboratory staff and is restricted only to a small number of specially trained healthcare workers.

It has already proved successful after British nurse William Pooley, 29, who contracted the virus while working in Sierra Leone, was given the all-clear in September following treatment at the hospital.

The 29-year-old nurse from Suffolk became the first Briton to be evacuated from west Africa with the deadly disease and famously returned to work at the Connaught Hospital in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, after making a full recovery.

The Royal Free London NHS Trust describes treatment at the unit.

It says: "A specially-designed tent, with controlled ventilation, is set up around the patient's bed and allows the staff to provide clinical care while containing the infection".

"There are various facilities in place, including a specific entrance for the patient, sterilisers which de-contaminate waste and a dedicated laboratory for carrying out tests, all of which help to ensure the patient can be treated safely and securely."

Mr Pooley, who this year delivered Channel 4's alternative Queen's Speech on Christmas Day, spoke of the "world-class care" he received upon leaving the hospital.

Dr Deahl, who is married to Annabel and has children Alfred, 14, and Cecily, nine, had been sitting next to Miss Cafferkey, 39, on the flight. He added she seemed "fine, fit and healthy".

But he said: "The precautions and checks at the airport were shambolic. They ran out of testing kits and didn't seem to know what they were doing. The advice was that we should not take public transport to travel anywhere more than an hour away yet we all did." If Martin Deahl was ever in any doubt about the dangers of fighting Ebola, his flight home to the United Kingdom has put him straight.

He sat alongside Pauline Cafferkey, the nurse who is currently at the centre of Britain's first direct scare over the disease.

Dr Deahl's day job is as a consultant psychiatrist, working across the county for the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Today he was back home in Newport, where he reflected on his time in Sierra Leone and the furore that has surrounded the outbreak of Ebola.

Dr Deahl's temperature is being monitored because of his contact with Ms Cafferkey, but he says he knows the risk of infection is low and that all precautions were taken during his time in Africa.

Dr Deahl was one of 30 NHS medics deployed to Sierra Leone, which has been torn apart by the deadly Ebola virus.

"It is the red zone. The most dangerous place on earth," he said.

"The patients are frightened and very vulnerable but what's quite nice is that even if we don't speak the language, you can have a semblance of an empathetic relationship with them."

Today he opened up his file of photographs taken during his time helping to fight the illness.

The images show him dressed from head to toe in protective clothing to prevent him from making contact with the deadly germs.

But Dr Deahl insists: "Even wearing protective equipment, you can still hug them, you can squeeze their hand and they appreciate that.

"And when you see someone come into the centre with the stuffing knocked out of them due to the disease, and then you see them leave with a spring in their step after the treatment you've provided, there's no feeling like it.

"I would recommend going out there to anyone."

Miss Cafferkey, from Glasgow, was today at an isolation unit in London after it was confirmed that she had thevirus.

Dr Deahl said: "I was sitting next to her on the plane when we flew back on Sunday night and she seemed fine. Everybody on the flight seemed so well and in good spirits. I was detained at Heathrow for half an hour and checked as a precaution and released."

Dr Deahl, who is married with children, trained alongside 39-year-old Miss Cafferkey for 10 days when they first arrived in Sierra Leone back in November.

He said he thought all of his colleagues were fit and well when they went out there, and added were given a medial before they left.

And despite the risks, Dr Deahl says that he could go back next year.

"There is a possibility of going back in April as our government like people with experience to go and help run the community care centres, which are much more basic compared to the medical centres.

"The treatment centres will make a huge difference, but the small community centres are what is key. Ebola is like lions in the jungle. If you have all of your lions in one cage you know where they are and they can't harm as many people. You have to keep it contained, and if you follow all the rules you will be safe.

"Sadly there were five deaths while I was out there, but we did manage to dismiss five people, which is better than the normal odds."

Dr Deahl said the team spirit was tremendous amongst British volunteers and Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, even gave them 100 Sierra Leonean Leone, which is about £80, to buy some drinks on Christmas Day.

They were also sent a Christmas dinner with all of the trimmings for them to enjoy in the evening, which Dr Deahl said was wonderful after spending a day in the treatment centre.

There is no known cure for the virus at the moment, but Dr Deahl said it is all about containing it.

And he says people in Britain have nothing to fear, despite talk of new outbreaks both in Cornwall and Scotland.

Miss Cafferkey was today being treated at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, having been transferred on a military-style plane from her local hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday. She had spoken enthusiastically about the work she was doing in Sierra Leone in an online diary.

In her diary, Miss Cafferkey wrote on her arrival in Sierra Leone: "I feel sorry for the poor patients who have these alien-type people caring for them. Especially so for the young children, who are not only very sick but have these strange creatures with only their eyes visible trying to make them drink and take medications."

In her third week she spoke movingly of a boy left orphaned by the disease. The boy's sister had also died. She said: "I was with a lady who was dying. I could tell she didn't have long, so I was trying to make her comfortable.

"There was a young boy standing at the window looking in and I waved to him. A few minutes later she had passed away and I heard the boy crying outside the ward."

There has been criticism of failings in the screening at Heathrow Airport, which enabled Miss Cafferkey to fly on to Scotland, where she was taken ill.

But Dr Deahl said the main focus of attention should remain in Africa, where the illness needs to be beaten to prevent it becoming a global problem.

He said: "Confronting Ebola for the first time generates strong emotions. Sadness at seeing such suffering and fear. Anger – what have these people done to deserve this? A sense of guilt that the international community didn't respond more quickly. Love – especially for the children, innocent young lives so undeserving of anything like this. Why them, not me?

"And, of course, fear of the ever-present invisible enemy. I have seen a lot of suffering in a career of more than 30 years, but rarely have I felt so emotional about my patients."

But despite the horrors, the consultant psychiatrist has no regrets.

"It has been the professional experience of a lifetime," he says.

"We really felt as though we were making a difference out there, and if anyone gets the chance to go out there, they should."