Ebola 2014: Setting up a port health screening programme at an international train station
Abstract
An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) began in Guinea in December 2013 and was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization in August 2014. In October, the UK government tasked Public Health England (PHE) to set up EVD screening at key ports. The key aim of port-of-entry screening was to identify passengers coming from areas with high risk of EVD, and give them advice to raise their awareness of symptoms and what actions to take. Direct flights from Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia had all been cancelled, so intelligence on passenger numbers and routes was used to identify the most commonly used routes from the affected countries into the UK. One of these was St Pancras International train station. Screening had never previously been implemented at a UK train station so had to be set up from scratch. Key to the success of this was excellent multi-agency working between PHE, the UK Border Force, Eurostar, Network Rail and the Cabinet Office. This paper gives an overview of the activation of EVD screening at St Pancras International and the subsequent decommissioning.
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Author's Biography
Vivien Cleary is a Consultant in Health Protection for Public Health England’s’ North East and North Central London Health Protection Team. She was the professional lead for St Pancras International and set up the onsite screening.
Edward Wynne-Evans is a Consultant in Communicable Disease Control for Public Health England’s’ North East and North Central London Health Protection Team. He provided the clinical guidance and process for St Pancras International and was the Ebola lead for the team.
James Freed was Head of Information Strategy in the Chief Knowledge Officer’s Directorate in Public Health England. He was the operations lead and managed and directed the longer-term development of the screening service at St Pancras International. He now works for Health Education England.
Katie Fleet is a Nurse Consultant for Public Health England’s’ North East and North Central London Health Protection Team. She was responsible for the initial training, induction and support for screening teams at St Pancras International and was the first screener on site on ‘go live’ day.
Simone Thorn is a Nurse Consultant in Public Health England’s’ North East and North Central London Health Protection Team. She was the operations lead for the final stage of screening and oversaw de-escalation of the site and removal of the equipment.
Deborah Turbitt is the Deputy Regional Director for Health Protection London and a Port Medical Officer. She was Ebola Incident Director for London.
Citation
Cleary, Vivien, Wynne-Evans, Edward, Freed, James, Fleet, Katie, Thorn, Simone and Turbitt, Deborah (2016, December 1). Ebola 2014: Setting up a port health screening programme at an international train station. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 10, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.69554/KZRX4124.
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