Staff at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage have been gearing up their safety routines to deal with ‘suspected or actual’ cases of the deadly Ebola virus.
An Ebola planning group has been set up to make sure the East and North Herts NHS Trust would be ready and able to deal with the virus should patients need treatment.
Staff are being trained to use protective equipment and fit masks and have been taking part in drills and dummy runs.
Posters are also being distributed throughout the trust’s sites to make patients, staff and visitors aware of symptoms.
Director of nursing Angela Thompson said: “All advice being provided at the moment states that the risk to people living in this country remains very low, with those most at risk being people who have visited recently the identified countries in West Africa dealing with Ebola cases at the moment.
“The risk to the Trust’s staff and its patients, therefore, remains very low indeed, but we still need to be prepared.”
So far more than 4,500 people have died from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which originated in Guinea.
It has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The virus is not airborne and is spread by bodily fluids.
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