Ebola Nurse Pauline Cafferkey Rushed To Hospital

6 October 2016, 11:17

Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who was infected with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone in 2014, has been taken to hospital in Glasgow under police escort, sources have said.

Ms Cafferkey travelled to west Africa to volunteer with Save The Children but was quickly struck down herself when she returned at the end of 2014.

She was treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London but was discharged in January 2015 with doctors saying she had completely recovered and was not infectious in any way.

However, she was readmitted to hospital twice - in October 2015 and February 2016 - after suffering complications linked to the disease, at one stage falling critically ill.

Police Scotland said the force "assisted in the transfer of a patient''. There are no details on Ms Cafferkey's condition.

Last month the nurse was cleared of misconduct over her return to the UK with the virus.

She was accused by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of allowing an incorrect temperature to be recorded in a ''chaotic'' screening centre in Heathrow on her return from Sierra Leone in late 2014.

Ms Cafferkey said she would never have knowingly put anyone in danger and an independent panel found three charges against her were not proven and her fitness to practise was not affected.

It ruled her judgement at the airport in December 2014 had been so impaired by the developing illness that she could not be found guilty of misconduct.

Speaking outside the hearing in Edinburgh, Ms Cafferkey's lawyer said she was ''relieved the process is at an end'' and stressed the nurse would have never knowingly placed anyone in danger.

Joyce Cullen said of her client: ''She willingly put her life at risk to travel to Sierra Leone to work as a volunteer helping to treat people suffering from Ebola.

''She and hundreds of other volunteers played a vital role in saving lives, helping to curb the epidemic in extremely challenging circumstances.''