Ebola nurse ‘potentially put public at risk’, panel told

Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey "potentially put the public at risk" through her actions as she returned to the UK with the virus, a misconduct hearing has been told.

A disciplinary panel also heard claims the Scottish medical worker’s conduct had “undermined” public trust and confidence in the nursing profession.

The allegations were made by a lawyer for the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on the first day of the hearing in Edinburgh.

But the nurse’s legal team pointed to her “previously unblemished record” and insisted the legal threshold for a finding of misconduct against her has not been met.

Ms Cafferkey (40) was infected with the virus while working in Sierra Leone in 2014 and returned to the UK at the end of December that year.

Accusations that she acted dishonestly during her return to Heathrow were dropped on Tuesday after after the panel ruled there was no reasonable prospect of them being proved.

She remains accused of allowing an incorrect temperature to be recorded during the screening process at the airport and of leaving the screening area at Heathrow without reporting her true temperature.

– (PA)